Keep Rolling the Lonesome Road
by sunsetdreamer
Summary: Piper's struggle to balance her normal and magical lives continues, but when Chris comes in to a new power, it sparks a series of events that force her to address the fear and resentment she puts so much effort into keeping buried. Completed.
1. Chapter 1

**Keep Rolling the Lonesome Road**

**October**

The ocean water was bright and clear, reflecting the flawless blue of the sky above. Amidst the shrieks rising out of the water, the exasperated voices of parents calling to children who had disappeared for the umpteenth time, and the little feet kicking sand carelessly over those foolish enough to get too comfortable on their towels, lay the coolers and colourful outdoor toys which marked Piper's organized hand on the day's adventure.

It was the last day of October, just over a week past Chris's fourth birthday, and it had been Phoebe's idea to take advantage of what could possibly be the last unseasonably hot day of the year by making a trek out to the beach.

Unfortunately, everyone in the state of California had apparently happened upon the same idea.

There were ten beaches spread out along the miles of waterfront, and Phoebe and Paige, naturally, had insisted on settling down on the most crowded section; the attraction of the beach lying, for them, more in the boardwalk clothing stores than in the sandcastle experience. Piper sat in between Leo's legs on the lounge chair, her back against his chest with her knees drawn up as she flipped absently through a Cosmopolitan magazine.

"Hey! I wasn't done reading that page yet." He protested.

"Oh, I think you were."

Paige watched through half closed lids as a minor tug-of-war began between her sister and brother-in-law over the magazine, stemming from Leo's teasing comment revolving around the article boasting "25 Sexy Ways to Use Your Kitchen." She sighed contently as Henry smoothed sunscreen onto the skin of her bare back, and then looked to the water's edge, where her nephews frolicked ecstatically in the ankle deep water.

Laura, her one-and-a-half year old niece, played contently with a set of wooden blocks on the blanket beside her, wobbling unsteadily under the weight of the sunhat that was more than twice the size of her entire body.

"Whatcha buildin' there, cutie?" Paige asked, tickling the inside of the little girl's chubby thigh.

Laura giggled and pushed away Paige's hand. "Cas'le."

After a moment of apparent deep contemplation, Laura solemnly selected a single, bright blue block and held the gift out to her aunt.

"Thanks, sweetheart."

Suddenly, the magazine flew from Piper and Leo's competing hands and landed directly in front of Paige, sending a small cloud of sand up into her face.

"Hey!" she sputtered, sitting up quickly.

"Sorry." Piper apologized sheepishly.

Paige stretched out her arm to hand back the magazine, and then looked around in confusion as Leo blushed and cleared his throat, abruptly turning his head away from her and shifting uneasily in the chair.

"Paige, honey, we all know you have fantastic breasts. The flashing is kind of unnecessary." Piper commented nonchalantly.

"Oh my god." Paige scrambled to appropriately adjust the fabric of her bikini top, and smacked the bare chest of her husband as he chuckled softly, "Thanks for the heads up." She snapped sarcastically.

Henry held up both hands in surrender, "It's not my fault. You moved so quickly, I didn't have time to tie it back."

Piper snickered, and Leo smiled into the sand below them, still averting his eyes from her direction.

"Well if _you_ two," Paige pointed an accusing finger at the couple, "hadn't been acting like five-year-olds, it wouldn't have been a problem. Apparently expecting a break from sand being kicked around, since your sons _finally_ decided to take their play a little closer to the water, was unrealistic of me. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, trying to get some sun..."

"Sun?" Piper laughed, raising an eyebrow. She glanced pointedly at the wide brim hat atop Paige's head, and then at the canopy umbrella which kept Paige, Laura and Henry completely encased in shade. "I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that you actually needed to venture out into the sunlight in order for that to happen."

Paige pulled her oversized sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and peered keenly at her older sister, "I thought you were working on being less snarky?"

"To be fair," Henry stepped in, "You were snarky first."

Henry took the glare he received from Paige in stride as he watched Piper grin triumphantly. Jumping from no family, to a family that made up in volume and invasiveness what it lacked in size, had been overwhelming at first, but he had long since grown comfortable within the group. The complete lack of privacy took getting used to… and he wasn't quite sure he would ever be comfortable knowing there was little about their relationship Paige didn't openly discuss with her sisters, but there was a certain amount of relief that went with knowing the same applied to Leo and Coop.

He watched Leo wrap his arms around Piper and pull her tightly against his body in a fierce bear hug, eliciting a series of giggles from her as he placed a playful kiss on the side of her neck. How Leo had managed to be the only guy, around these three women in particular, for so many years, he would never know.

Henry placed a chaste kiss on Paige's cheek, apologetic, even though they both knew he was anything but. She smirked at him, seeing straight through his feigned remorse, and placed the bottle of sunscreen back in his large hands.

"I'm not paying you to sit around looking pretty."

"You're not paying me at all." He retorted.

Paige folded her arms beneath her cheek and cringed slightly as Henry squeezed the cold cream directly onto her back. "Was that really necessary?"

"What?" Henry answered innocently, squirting more of the cool lotion upon her skin as he spoke.

She rolled her eyes, "Really? Am I the only adult here today? Between Frick and Frack over there," she tilted her head in the direction of Piper and Leo, "you with your freezing cold sunscreen, and the two rabbits I sometimes call Phoebe and Coop leaving me with their child to go screw in the woods, I feel like I'm keeping an eye on eight kids instead of three."

Henry merely blinked impassively before dropping another dollop of the thick, icy liquid onto her back.

"You are such a child."

"I can think of a few not so childish things I'd like to do to you right now." He murmured.

"Over sharing." Leo stated brightly without opening his eyes.

Piper smiled at the easy banter that was so characteristic of her atypical family, and then turned her attention back to her children, who were now tenaciously digging a large hole in the wet sand. Twenty minutes ago, Wyatt had calmly informed her of his intentions to bury his younger brother, and she was really hoping Leo was correct in his assumption that the boys would grow tired of digging before the hole was anywhere near large enough to hide Chris.

"Do you think they need more sunscreen?" She fretted, "I think they do… the water must have washed away most of it by now-

"They're fine." Leo reassured, his eyes still closed. "Just relax."

He tugged blindly on the back of her bathing suit, silently urging her to recline alongside him and simply enjoy the family outing.

Henry grinned as Piper reluctantly complied; out of all the relatives –dead and alive- he had encountered since meeting Paige, his opinion of Piper had been the one to undergo the most drastic change. His first impression of Piper had been that she was, despite good intentions, easily stressed, and quite frankly, more unstable than not. While there was still no debating Piper's neuroticism, he could now understand that much of it stemmed from the deep-rooted affection she carried for her family. She worried because she cared, and the lack of stability he had seen in her three years ago had clearly been caused by the loss of her husband. They weren't complete without one another; PiperandLeo. He had unwittingly adopted the family's habit of enunciating the two names as if they were one. PiperandLeo are bringing the boys over later today. PiperandLeo said the movie was terrific. PiperandLeo are meeting us at P3.

He continued rubbing the lotion thoroughly into his wife's skin, and looked toward the water just in time to watch a suspiciously large pile of sand form instantaneously beside Wyatt and Chris.

"Piper, Leo? Remember that hole you were counting on the boys not finishing?"

Piper lifted her head from Leo's chest and eyed Henry warily, "What about it?"

Her eyes, along with Leo's, followed his, and both sets widened in horror as they watched Chris disappear from sight as Wyatt pushed him into the newly formed hole.

"Wyatt! No!"

"Great." Leo muttered, with more than a hint of annoyance, as the two of them scrambled off the beach chair and raced the short distance to the magically expanded break in the sand. Paige and Henry watched with mild concern as Leo hopped into the crevice after his son, but when he placed him safely on the edge, apparently no worse for wear, the pair began to laugh.

Paige's laugh grew louder as they watched Piper run her hands over Chris's head and limbs, no doubt checking for breaks – much to the irritation of her youngest son – while Leo dealt with Wyatt and his public use of magic.

"Do we have the greatest nephews in the world or what?" Paige asked.

"Karma is going to bite you in the ass for laughing, you know. And I'm going to get taken down with you."

"Oh please." She scoffed. "You're mortal; we're in the clear. If we ever had kids, they would never even come close to being as powerful as those two."

"Leo's mortal." Henry objected, taking offense as always when she threw the word, 'mortal,' around in that superior tone of voice.

"Yeah, but he wasn't when they were conceived… you know that."

Henry nodded mutely, he _did_ know that. He just forgot; often. He had never known Leo as anything other than the man he was now, and his gratitude for there being at least one other 'normal' being in the family, Victor excluded, caused him to frequently forget Leo had once possessed supernatural powers of his own.

"So," he started, doing his best to sound casual, "have you given any more thought to us maybe working on kids of our own soon?"

"Just stick to the sunscreen, baby."

* * *

"Chris, sweetie, are you _sure_ you're okay? Did you hit your head? Does anything hurt?"

"Mommy, I'm fine!" Chris whined, pushing her hand away from his hair. "That was the funnest thing ever!"

"Of course it was." Piper deadpanned, rolling her eyes, "Naturally."

"…but daddy, it was taking _forever_ to dig the normal way. I was careful, I looked to see if anybody was watching first!"

"Wyatt, it is not okay for you to use your magic in public, ever. Especially not for personal gain." Leo admonished.

"But it was really really really really really important." Wyatt protested.

"Buddy," Leo began, crouching down in front of his son and cupping his chin gently, forcing Wyatt to look at him, "if we're going to visit fun places, then we need to know that we can trust you. Mommy and I aren't going to take you to the beach if we aren't sure you can keep from using your powers."

"But I like the beach." Wyatt said softly as tears began to form, further brightening his ever-dazzling eyes.

"And we like taking you," Leo continued, "but we can't unless you follow the rules. Now, do you think you can stay here and play nicely with your brother, without using your powers, or do we have to go home?"

"We can stay." Wyatt sniffled, "I'll be good."

"I'll hold you to that." Leo smiled, ruffling the child's hair.

"And mister?" Piper added in a tone that did not bode argument, "No more pushing your brother into holes, okay? Even," she paused to glare at Chris, "if he wants you to."

"Yes Mommy."

"I'm serious, buddy."

"Mom," Chris jumped in, rolling his eyes and drawing out her name with so much exasperation Leo had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from laughing. "We won't do it again. Promise."

"You bet you won't."

Chris's face fell, "Are you mad?"

Piper's expression softened, and she scooped him onto her hip, her heart swelling as his arms automatically looped around her neck. "No baby." She whispered, brushing sand from his cheek and breathing in the scent of the water on his damp skin, "I'm not mad at you. I just want you to be careful okay?"

He nodded into her shoulder. "And no magic." Piper added sternly.

At this, Chris raised his head indignantly, "_I_ didn't use magic, it was Wyatt!"

"Thanks a lot." Wyatt muttered.

"He just doesn't listen, mommy." Chris remarked, sighing theatrically.

"Yeah well, neither do you. At least now I know not to take it personally." She flipped Chris's body in her arms and placed a loud butterfly kiss on his belly before setting him on his feet.

"You two go bother your Aunt and Uncle while daddy and I get rid of this mess."

"When are Auntie Phoebe and Uncle Coop coming back?" Wyatt asked.

"Soon." Leo answered ambiguously.

The truth was, no one had seen Phoebe or Coop since they disappeared to do some, "shopping." At least, that was what Phoebe had called over her shoulder to the boys as the two of them strolled away, hand in hand. Leo still wished she had taken the time to consider the intelligence of her nephews, who had wondered, as soon as she disappeared from sight, why they were heading away from the boardwalk instead of toward it.

"They've been gone forever." Chris observed. "What if they're lost? I told you daddy, I told you they were going the wrong way."

"Maybe we should go find them." Wyatt suggested.

"I'm sure they're fine." Leo assured, however their identical looks of skepticism told him they were less than convinced.

"Hey boys?" Piper interrupted, "If you don't hurry, we're going to make you help move all this sand back."

Wyatt and Chris took a moment to study her expression and decided, based on the expectant, unblinking stare she delivered back, that it would definitely be in their best interests to quickly vacate the area. They had already learned that while it was safe to assume threats to bind their powers were empty, threats involving cleaning rarely were.

The boys scampered off, and Leo watched until he was certain they had been spotted by Paige and Henry. Satisfied that they would be taken care of, he turned his attention back to Piper, who was frowning at the miniature dune of sand which stood almost as tall as she did, hands fixed firmly on her hips.

"Well, Wyatt was right;" she commented dryly, "this is going to take forever."

"We don't have a choice Piper, some child could fall in and hurt themselves. If we get started now, we should finish up just in time to help repack all the vehicles-

"To hell with that." Piper retorted succinctly, moving to stand beside her husband, "I am not wasting a rare, family day, filling up a stupid hole."

She took a quick look around her, then, with a subtle wave of her fingers, the sand beneath the pile mysteriously gave way. Leo sighed, but refrained from further comment. Once the landslide slowed to a stop, Piper examined what was left, and nodded in satisfaction. She would be soaking up the sun again within fifteen minutes. As long as the boys didn't come back to "help."

They worked quickly together, each gracefully moving in accordance with the other, through no conscious thought of their own. They were having a conversation, that much Leo knew, but if she pressed him for details, his recount would be fuzzy at best. She was happy, relaxed; and he was finding it increasingly difficult to pay attention to anything outside of her smile. Leo felt a surge of love shoot through him as he reflected on how relatively simple pleasing Piper could sometimes be; a nice day, spent outdoors with her family, provided enough normality to sustain her during the not so normal days. Now that the demon attacks were, generally speaking, fewer and farther between, his wife was slowly learning to enjoy her moments of freedom without squandering the time worrying about when they were going to end.

"I think this is good enough." Piper stated casually. However Leo couldn't help but smile as he watched her continue to examine their work with a critical eye, comparing the sand where they were standing to the sand in the surrounding area. Despite her offhanded comment, he knew they weren't leaving this spot until Piper was positive the job was flawless.

She stamped her feet in a few places, smoothed the sand out in others, and finally, the crease between her brows disappeared, and she turned to her husband, completely contented.

"Score one for mom and dad, huh?" She laughed. Tendrils of her hair, now coarse with sand, had fallen free of her messy ponytail. She absently brushed the wayward strands out of her face with the back of her arm, leaving a trail of wet sand across her forehead in its wake.

"Close your eyes." He murmured, as he stepped toward her.

Piper's breath caught in her throat; the way it always did when he used that voice. Nevertheless she willingly obeyed, cursing her sisters for picking this damn overcrowded beach. Without warning, the memory of her and Leo, and their spontaneous midnight escape to this very beach last summer, jumped to the forefront of Piper's mind. The boys had been sleeping over at Victor's, and the night, like the day, had been exceptionally hot. The trip had been Leo's idea, of course, and he had smiled and whispered so irresistibly in her ear that she had not been able to think of a single good reason not to go. It had, obviously, been considerably less crowded then; deserted, actually. The water, cool and perfect, well lit by the full moon above. A perfect evening. But, she reminded herself firmly, she had paid for that particular rendezvous for days afterwards. Today she would take no chances; she wasn't going anywhere near the water with Leo unless Chris and Wyatt were with her.

Leo tenderly dusted the sand off of her face as best he could, then dropped a light kiss on her upturned lips. "I love you."

Piper smiled that gorgeous, crooked smile of hers he loved so much, and leaned forward on her tiptoes to brush a quick kiss of her own on his mouth. "I love you too."

What had she been thinking? Bringing her children to this particular beach, with its inexplicable, arousing effect on sexual urges; Phoebe's vote shouldn't have even counted. Her sister would bring back at least one shopping bag if she knew what was good for her, otherwise _she_ could be the one to deal with Wyatt and Chris's questions. Piper began to fidget with her bathing suit, tugging with increasing agitation as the sand began chaffing.

"We could go out a ways in the water and try rinsing the sand out." Leo suggested, "Away from all these people… you won't have to fight yourself so hard to not freeze them." He continued with a grin.

"Leo," she complained distractedly, "I got an infection the last time we did that. It was not a good time. And it successfully killed all correlations within my mind between open water and romance. We are not having sex in any water outside of what we get in our own shower; I am not a teenager, I can keep my hormones in check until we get home, and so can you."

She let out a childish wail of frustration as she yanked emphatically on the top of her tankini, grumbling under her breath as it did little to ease her discomfort. Perfect; she had sand, literally everywhere, and this time, there were no pleasing memories to make it at least somewhat worthwhile. It took her a moment to realize Leo hadn't made any sort of reply, and she reluctantly turned towards him, hoping he wasn't sulking. She so was not giving in on this, no matter how badly she wanted him right now.

Except it only took one look at his face for her to realize that they were on two completely different pages.

Leo finally came back from his stunned silence and found his voice, confirming for Piper what she already knew. "That wasn't how I meant that… at all, actually."

And that had been true; thirty seconds ago. Now, he couldn't help but react to the mental images her rant had placed inside his head. The look of love and tender affection in his eyes gave way to desire, even as he watched her fiddle comically with the edges of her suit. The subtle change in her restless motions had not gone unobserved; the constant movement of her fingers now had more to do with providing distraction rather than ridding herself of sand.

"Could you possibly be projecting right now?" he asked smugly, "transferring your own feelings to me, in order to convincingly give someone else the lecture you really want to give yourself?"

Piper made a conscious effort to still her hands before placing them defiantly on her hips, "Don't you get all Phoebe on me. I may not be able to freeze her, but I can sure freeze you."

"I wouldn't object to doing a little 'shopping'." Leo responded, ignoring her threat, a suggestive smirk gracing his lips.

"You think you're funny, huh?"

"Maybe just a little."

"Keep it up honey." Piper replied, somehow managing to maintain a semi-straight face, "See if we ever go shopping again."

* * *

The sung hung low in the sky, almost kissing the water when their group decided to call it a day. Paige assisted the men with the repacking of the vehicles while Piper and Phoebe hauled the overtired children away from the sand. Tentative plans were made to have a family dinner at the manor the following Sunday, and before long, three new cars joined the line of traffic heading toward the highway on-ramp.

Piper groaned internally as a glance in the rearview mirror revealed Wyatt and Chris, already sound asleep. She didn't have the heart to wake them, but the hour and a half drive meant that if the boys continued to sleep, there would be no settling them in bed before eleven. In all likelihood, despite this, they would probably still be awake at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. She and Leo were screwed.

Leo too, watched his sons sleep via the mirror, and he smiled as he saw Wyatt frown slightly in his sleep, stretch, and relax back into his seat. Wyatt was as tall for his age as Chris was small, and Piper and himself had been forced to explain to Chris – more than once – why it was necessary for him to continue using his booster seat, while Wyatt sat grown-up style by his side.

The day had been perfect, his sons' magical mishap notwithstanding, and as he navigated the busy highway, he couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like had Wyatt and Chris had another sibling to add to their amusement on the sandy shore. He doubted they would be as careful with a sister as they had –so far – managed to be with Laura, and it was somewhat crazy, he knew, adding another magical child to their impulsive duo, yet once the thought entered his mind, it was nearly impossible to shake it. If they were ever going to have another baby, the timing couldn't really get any better than where they were now. Wyatt and Chris were growing fast, and with Chris starting school the next fall, it would be easier to care for a baby. Any neglect felt by the boys, due to no longer readily having their parents' undivided attention, would be kept to a minimum if they had school to keep them busy. The last thing they needed was Chris repeating the resentful, jealous behaviour Wyatt had exhibited toward him in the beginning. Calling Paige – possibly repeatedly – to sense for a missing child was not an experience he was particularly enthused for. Hopefully Chris's age would contribute to a more easily checked temper.

His gaze shifted briefly from the highway in front of him to rest upon his wife; she was staring intently out of the passenger window, and the slight crease between her eyebrows told him she was lost deep within thoughts of her own. He watched her brush absently at her dirt-streaked white dress, and he rolled his eyes at the impracticality of her decision to wear a white sundress to the beach… as pleasing as it was to look at. However, when he had made the mistake of saying as much before they left the house that morning, Piper had unceremoniously stated that she hadn't asked for his opinion. End of discussion. Hopefully, she would be more receptive to discussing a third child.

Leo recognized the sacrifices another pregnancy would entail for Piper; it would mean reduced hours at the club, a more or less constant state of illness, sleep patterns that fluctuated from near insomnia to near narcolepsy, and essentially, a loss of control over her own body. It was a lot to ask of her, but he had witnessed during their time spent at the beach, her fleeting glances – lasting just a tad too long – towards the unsteady body of their niece and the toddlers of surrounding couples, teetering on shaky legs that could barely handle even ground, never mind shifting sand.

Leo's hand crept across the divide to Piper's lap, finding her hand and squeezing gently. When she squeezed back, suddenly it seemed as if even the hour's drive they had left was too long a time to wait in order to have the conversation that has been on and off his mind for weeks.

"Do you ever thing about what it would be like with another one?" He blurted out, not quite as smoothly as he had imagined when he said it in his head.

Piper didn't need to ask what he was referring to, because truth be told, her mind had already strayed in that direction a time or two today. Unlike Leo, however, she had already put the ridiculous notion out of her mind. They had two beautiful boys; she wouldn't tempt fate by trying to bring another child into the world. Not when she was presently so happy.

"Yeah." She laughed, "A disaster. We can't even keep two in check."

"I'm serious, Piper," Leo insisted, "I'd, I'd like another baby."

The second half of his sentence was so softly spoken, so obviously lacking his virtually ever-present air of confidence, it almost wasn't recognizable as coming from him. Piper sat frozen in her seat, searching for a diplomatic response to his statement, rather than the cry of, _are you out of your mind?!_ resting on the tip of her tongue. "Do you think that's a good idea? I mean, things are good right now… I don't know if we should push that…"

"Come on Piper." Leo pleaded, in that voice she hated, because it made her feel like saying yes to anything he wanted.

"Don't you want another baby?" He continued, "You started crying last week just from thinking about Chris starting full time Kindergarten next fall…"

"I wasn't crying." Piper protested defensively, "I was just… I was thinking about…" she tossed her head in frustration and yanked her hand out of his, "I wasn't crying." She repeated stubbornly.

Leo laughed and moved his hand up and down her thigh, "You want another baby as much as I do. Admit it."

"Stop that." She snapped, slapping his hand away. "I can't concentrate when you-

She inhaled sharply as his hand grazed her intimately beneath her sundress. "Leo, the boys." She hissed.

"…are fast asleep." He finished easily.

"You're not playing fair." She breathed.

"You _never_ play fair. Admit that you miss having a baby in the house."

"Miss it?" Piper scoffed aloofly, "Miss the long months spent walking around like a zombie due to lack of sleep? Miss sore breasts and bitten nipples and what basically amounts to a year and a half of hormonal roller-coaster riding? I have to say, Leo, I miss all of those things not so much."

She watched the corners of his mouth twitch almost imperceptibly, in that way they were prone to doing when he tried to appear indifferent to her tangents. Piper suppressed a grin of her own; she loved that hidden smile. She loved knowing that she could put it on his face.

Her thoughts then drifted back to the afternoon spent at the beach; the parts she didn't squander away fantasizing about ripping Leo's clothes off. She had thought she had been subtle in her observations, but she should have known better. Few things escaped Leo's attention, even if he didn't always let on.

The file in her mind housing that little girl she had seen so many years ago was one she rarely opened, but occasionally she fell prey to moments of weakness, and she couldn't keep the memories contained. The freckles inherited from her, the smile inherited from Leo, and a sunny disposition capable of melting the coldest of hearts; a little sister to be fiercely protected by Wyatt and Chris… or a new guinea pig for her two boys to push into holes.

"There's the smile I've been watching all day." Leo teased, drawing her from her reverie. "I know you, Piper; for whatever reason, you don't feel like admitting it, but that doesn't change the truth. It doesn't change what's in your heart."

"Alright! Enough with the whitelighter speak."

A tiny shock ran through Piper's body as Leo gently squeezed her knee.

"Sorry."

"No," she sighed, "I'm sorry, I just… I'm really not convinced that now is the best time."

"…because you're happy?"

The silence with which Piper met his question was all the confirmation Leo required.

"Piper I thought you were getting past this."

"I am Leo." She snapped, "I'm dealing with it at my own pace, a little bit at a time. And I don't think it's fair of you to expect me to take a leap like this without hesitation."

"Piper I understand that it's very difficult for you, and I'm not asking you to jump in without pause, but it is never going to be the exact right time. The only reason you're hesitating is because –

"Stop analysing me." Piper shifted subconsciously closer to the window, away from her husband. "And yes, I'm happy. I'm _happy_, and I'm slowly learning how to take the world on a day at a time instead of worrying about every aspect of the future. But, I still think asking for more than we have now would be essentially daring the cosmos to throw something devastating our way. I'm not risking it Leo, now drop it."

She wasn't sure when this conversation lost all trace of its easy, teasing tone, but she had definitely sailed past amusement and vague annoyance, straight to pissed.

Leo gripped the steering wheel tightly and clenched his teeth, pressing his lips into a thin line. In that instant, he would have been hard pressed to determine whether he was more irritated with Piper, or himself; pushing the emotional envelope with Piper before she was ready never made her open to discussion, it only pissed her off. If there was anything he should instinctively remember by now, it was that.

Piper kept her gaze fastidiously focused on the skyline, stubbornly wanting Leo to see how mad _he_ was single-handedly responsible for making her, yet, at the same time, wanting to apologize, if only to recapture the joy that had been her day today. She glanced at the mirror again, hoping to catch a subtle glimpse of Leo, but all she saw were her boys, still sleeping soundly with their heads resting against one another. Chris suddenly raised his head, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand before meeting her eye in the mirror.

Piper couldn't help but smile as he grinned, entertained by the mirror which allowed him to see her face, even though her back was to him. She raised a hand and waved to the mirror, grinning wider as the action elicited a giggle from her younger son. She caught Leo's soft smile from the corner of her eye, but she studiously ignored it in favour of continuing the mirror game with Chris.

"Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Wyatt's hand is touching my chair."

Piper rolled her eyes, "I'm sure it's not on purpose baby, Wyatt's sleeping."

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"If I'm not allowed to touch Wyatt's seat, how come he can touch mine?"

"Chris, honey, I just explained this to you. Your brother is asleep; it's not his fault. Besides, it's not that you're not allowed to touch each other's seats so much as you're not allowed to touch each other."

"Why?"

"Because it always ends in tears, and that stresses mommy out when she's driving."

Leo chuckled, and the sound switched Chris's attention from his mother to his father.

"Daddy?"

Leo grinned, "Yeah, buddy."

"You know how we always get to play with Auntie Paige and Auntie Phoebe?"

"Uh huh."

"And you know how Auntie Paige and Auntie Phoebe are mommy's sisters?"

"I think I remember hearing that somewhere." He smiled.

"Dad, I'm being serious."

Piper suppressed a laugh as Leo mustered a passably sincere expression. "Sorry buddy. Continue."

"How come we never play with your sisters?"

Leo flashed the uncomfortable half smile that always took over his face when he was questioned about his first life, "Because I don't have any sisters, Chris."

"What about brothers then?"

"Nope."

Chris's eyes widened in astonishment as he looked down at his own brother, unable to fathom the existence of just one boy instead of two.

"No brother?"

"That's right." Leo nodded, "And it's a good thing too; your Aunts love you so much, they sometimes don't even want to share you with your mom and I. If I had any brothers or sisters, we would never get a turn with you." He said with a wink.

Chris giggled again, and the noise drew Wyatt out of his nap. Piper caught the movement in her peripheral vision, and she twisted in her seat to smile at her older son as he yawned and pushed his long hair out of his face.

"Morning handsome."

"Hi mommy."

She then exchanged a small smile with Leo, choosing to close her fingers around his when he tentatively slipped his hand into her palm; the anger she had felt disappeared as swiftly as it had come. He had annoyed her earlier more than anything else; she didn't like the feeling of being virtually trapped inside a conversation – one she didn't want to have in the first place – by the moving vehicle. Leo probably wasn't going to let it go altogether, but at least it was done with for the time being.

"Mommy?" Chris repeated.

Piper sighed; Wyatt and Chris were as opposite in development as they were in looks. It was really only when Chris began speaking in full sentences that Wyatt took an interest in making conversation; up until the age of about four, Wyatt had been relatively introverted, speaking when necessary, but content to stay in his own world. Chris, on the other hand, was another story; he hadn't stopped talking since he first learned how. Even as a toddler, he had voiced his sentences to the best of his ability, and then filled in the blanks with gibberish. Around the people he loved, Chris was rarely content to sit in silence. Wyatt had blossomed in his own time, and while he had been quiet around strangers and family alike, he was now the more publicly outgoing of the two of them. Anyone outside the family was lucky to get two words out of Chris – if they could manage to coax him from behind Piper's pant leg – while Wyatt chatted charismatically with anyone who took an interest.

"Yes sweetheart?" she answered patiently.

"You know how Laura used to be boring, but now she can be fun sometimes?"

"Mmm hmm."

"I don't like Laura." Wyatt declared.

"Wyatt." Piper reprimanded.

"She's not good at sharing yet. She's like when Chris was a baby and he tried to take Wuvey all the time even though he's mine."

"I did not!" Chris claimed indignantly.

"You don't even remember."

"Did I mom?"

"Well, yes, but you were too small to know any better; just like Laura. And eventually, she'll grow out of it too. Until then, we'll just be patient with her, right Wyatt?"

Wyatt sighed off Piper's pointedly raised eyebrow, "Right."

"Why were you asking about Laura, Chris?" Leo inquired curiously.

"Well, there were lots of babies like Laura at the beach today, but she's better than all those babies, and prettier too, because mommy and Auntie Phoebe and Auntie Paige are the prettiest girls in the whole world."

"I'm with you so far." Leo laughed. With Chris, there really was no telling where his mind had wandered until he spelled it all out.

"So I was thinking, if mommy has a baby like Auntie Phoebe did, then we could have our own Laura, except our Laura would be better, because she would be ours."

Leo choked back a laugh and concentrated on the road, refusing to meet Piper's glare.

"That's a stupid idea. We don't need _girls_ in our house." Wyatt objected.

"Hey!" Piper protested.

He rolled his eyes; an action that was distinctly Piper, no matter how much he resembled Leo. "Mommy, you're not a girl; you're just mommy. I mean I don't want a girl-baby crying all the time and taking my toys. I like just me and Chris."

"You and me both." Piper muttered.

"Huh?" Chris asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"Don't 'huh,' me, Christopher; it's rude, and you know better."

"Pardon me?" he amended.

"Thank-you. I was just saying, I don't think it's likely to happen any time soon; you're going to have to be happy with Laura for now, buddy."

"Good." Wyatt whispered. Piper shot him a warning glance, and he offered his most charming smile.

At least she knew Wyatt would always be on her side; even if Leo and Chris tried to tag team her. Change was not something he handled well, and while she was certain – for the most part – that he would never try to orb a new baby away like he had Chris, he definitely wouldn't be a happy camper.

"What about later?" Chris persisted.

"We'll see honey. We're almost home; what do you two want for dinner?"

The boys were still debating amongst themselves in the backseat when Leo pulled into the driveway, although they were soon distracted by their sudden freedom from the car. They pulled their tiny backpacks out of the trunk and raced around the front lawn as Piper and Leo gathered the remaining bags of toys and wet clothing from the back.

Leo lightly grabbed Piper's wrist as she turned toward the house, speaking his piece softly before the boys became impatient and stole her focus.

"Just think about it." He whispered, his voice like velvet against her ear, "I know we can make it work."

She shivered, affected by his voice despite her desire to simply roll her eyes and walk away. Instead, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and headed to the porch, where she _just_ managed to pull the back of Chris's collar before he ran to get better acquainted with the skunk making its way under the neighbour's fence.

Leo shook his head, an amused smile fixed on his face as he slammed the trunk shut.

"Wash your hands!" Piper called into the house as she swung the door open and allowed her boys to race past her.

The front door was left open when Piper disappeared inside, and Leo shifted the chairs in his left arm in order to reach into the mailbox.

From somewhere in the house, he heard a loud crash, almost at the same time as he heard Piper's voice yelling for him with an urgent, slightly apprehensive tone that was only too familiar.

Leo was over the threshold before the load in his arms even hit the ground.

* * *

_Hey people! I've sort of begun things completely backward, as this story, from around the half-way point to the end, is pretty much finished. I've been thinking about this off and on throughout summer break… my biggest problem being that, as I mentioned, I knew exactly what I wanted to happen eventually, but I couldn't quite figure out how best to start it off. While suffering through an INCREDIBLY boring day at work today, a few things came to mind, and I think I might actually be on the right track now. I still can't say I'm all that fond of this first chapter; I realize it's a bit of a cheesefest, for lack of a better term, but I started off trying to put together some random fluff I could manipulate as a transition into the bigger picture… aaaaand then I got carried away. As usual. The next chapter was supposed to be the first chapter, but it seemed a little intense to be an introduction, so I went back to the drawing board. I tend to drift toward one extreme or the other… the way I write mirrors my personality I guess, haha. There is noooo middle ground with me. Anyways, now that the intro is MORE than over and done with, the coming chapters will actually (gasp) contain some A plot. Stay tuned; I'm having fun with this. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Piper?"

"Solarium." She replied tersely.

Leo skidded to a halt just within the doors, and stared disdainfully at the disfigured demon frozen in the centre of the room. Without taking her eyes away from the demon, Piper released the protective grip she held on Wyatt and Chris.

"Run over to daddy."

Leo immediately lifted Chris into his arms, ignoring the young boy's protests.

"Daddy, I want to see." Chris complained, twisting curiously within Leo's unyielding grasp.

"Attic. Quickly. My freezes seem to last on less and less demons every year."

Leo nodded, gently pushing Wyatt towards the stairs. "Hurry buddy."

Piper rarely even thought to freeze demons anymore; demonic powers became stronger over time the same way hers did, which made her freezes unpredictable. But she hadn't been about to start a firefight with her kids still in the room if it could be avoided. She relaxed slightly as soon as Leo and the boys were out of sight, then swore under her breath as she watched the demon fight free of the freeze.

"Uh oh."

She jumped on the couch, tipping it over and covering herself behind it as a fireball whizzed past and shattered the glass around her.

_Why, oh __**why**__, was it that they always went for the windows first?! Stained glass was __**not**__ cheap!_

Wyatt turned on the stairs when he heard Piper`s startled shriek, "Mommy!"

"Don't even think about it, Wyatt." Leo ordered, grabbing the back of his son's shirt. "Run, or be carried."

As they made their way through the second floor to the attic stairs, Chris added his own two cents.

"Daddy, we can help. 'Member last week when I moved the eggs from the top part of the fridge to the counter? 'Member? I've been practicing."

Leo let out a relieved breath as he closed the attic door behind them, then he put Chris on the floor and selected a few key potion bottles off the high shelves before addressing his son's statement.

"You've been doing really well, but until you're older, it's better if you let your mom take care of things, okay? If she needs help, she'll call your aunts."

He heard another crash downstairs, followed by the charged burst that he recognized as an attack from Piper. At least he knew she was okay, for now, even if the furniture wasn't. He ran an agitated hand through his hair; the years that had gone by since he possessed magical powers were irrelevant; there was never a moment like this that passed in which he didn't long for a way to be of assistance. It never felt right when he locked himself in the attic with the boys, even if he had to admit on a certain level, that he would probably be forced to the same position even if he did have powers; someone needed to keep the boys safe while Piper and her sisters did battle. But, if he had powers, at least he would be able to orb the three of them to safety if necessary. He feared the day a demon shimmered to their place of hiding and didn't buckle under the magic of one of the potion vials that were currently clenched in his fist.

"You can go help if you want, daddy. Chris and I will be good, we promise." Wyatt offered, watching Leo's gaze remain fixed on the door.

Leo reluctantly tore his eyes away and looked to Wyatt's solemn face as Chris nodded his head enthusiastically.

"I'd rather hang out with you two." He smiled, "Your mom is really good at taking care of herself. And us. Do you want to play Snakes and Ladders while we wait?"

They eagerly nodded their heads, and before Leo could reach the shelf he kept stocked with board games for just these occasions, the box flew across the room, straight into Chris's waiting arms.

"See daddy?" he grinned, "Told you I was practicing. I didn't even spill."

Leo ruffled the child's dark mop of hair, "That was really good Chris."

"Chris, do you want to be blue or green?"

"You can be blue this time, Wy." Chris shrugged, "I think I got to be the blue last time."

"Ready to lose, dad?" Wyatt grinned.

Leo rolled his eyes; snakes and Ladders could not be considered his best game. Even Piper had once commented that she didn't understand how it was possible to be so consistently terrible at a game of chance. "You two just wait."

One moment, Wyatt and Chris were giggling at his mock-hurt expression, and the next, Chris went deathly pale; his eyes wide in terror.

"Chris?" Leo rushed to the floor beside his son, placing a hand under his chin and turning his face towards him. He raised his voice slightly when Chris continued to stare straight ahead, as if Leo wasn't even there. "Chris? What's wrong?"

"Why isn't he talking?" Wyatt asked.

"I don't know. Chris? Christopher, look at daddy."

Suddenly, Chris's head snapped backward and he began screaming hysterically.

"Chris?!"

"MOMMY! MOMMY!"

"Christopher, she's downstairs. She's fine."

"Is he doing what Aunt Phoebe does?"

"No." Leo shook his head vigorously, cradling Chris against his chest even as he continued shrieking and thrashing uncontrollably, "Premonitions don't do this. Christopher!"

"WAKE UP! GET UP! GET UP!"

_The witch will move left if the throw goes wide to the right… no, cover left, to the left witch!_

_A fireball leaves his hand, arching right. When she dives to the left, he already has another waiting, and the spherical flame leaves his hand, traveling in slow motion. The witch's eyes widen in terror, she knows what is coming. Knows she has just played directly into his hands. Knows this show will kill her. And yet, the movement has already been made. There is no going back. She can only watch powerlessly as the ball spins continuously, spins agonizingly slowly, in her direction. As slow as the sphere is moving, she is moving slower. Then the slow motion vanishes, and the ball is ripping through her, consuming her, killing her. She screams; he can feel her anguish, feel the heat of the flames, smell her cooking flesh, and then she is no more. She bursts into the air and the witch that was, never will be again._

"MOM! Mommy! Bring her back! Come back!"

_Then she's back, as if she had never left in the first place. She moves neither left, nor right; she stands her ground and calmly throws up her arm, then the fireball explodes halfway towards her. The shock sends both foes flying in opposite directions, but she stands first, determined, unfazed, and when her arm goes up again, searing pain shoots through his arm. What should have been his arm. What __**would**__ have been his arm, had it still been attached to his body._

_Clever witch. But I am far from finished with you. Let us see how you function without your main source of cover._

_He directs a surge of power to the couch, where the witch still cowers. The flimsy piece of human furniture explodes, and the blast wounds her. She is not fallen, but she is no longer thinking clearly. She leaves herself exposed as she limps toward the hallway, blood flowing from the pieces of wood imbedded in her face and obscuring her vision. She's disoriented, she turns her back, and the fireball comes again. Rocketing forward at mach speed, it rips her body apart, melting her insides even as her soon to be corpse gasps and heaves in vain on the floor. Her mouth moves, although there is no sound, and he watches the life drain slowly from her eyes until the witch is nothing more than an animal carcass on the carpet._

Chris screamed again and again, clawing at his own body and pushing against the hands of his father as Leo tried to restrain him. At some point, Wyatt had begun crying hysterically as well, although distracted as he was, Leo had no idea when.

Downstairs, Piper crouched behind the couch, cursing the blast that had knocked her right back to where she started. It was only a matter of time before the demon lost patience and blew the couch straight to hell, most likely taking her along with it. She was contemplating making a dash for the hallway, toward the living room where there was more cover, not to mention less glass, when she heard the frantic screaming coming from the attic. _Chris_. The bastard had brought backup, and it was hurting her little boy. The angry boost of adrenaline shot through every nerve in her body, and she vaulted the couch, flipped across the table and charged the demon head on.

"You son of a bitch!"

Piper launched herself through the air, tackling the rather surprised demon to the ground.

"What have you done to my son?"

The demon growled and threw her body off of his with ease. Piper flew through the hallway until the wall beneath the stairwell stopped her momentum and she crashed to the ground. Chris's screams continued to echo through every floor, every wall, much louder than they had been before, and in an instant she was back on her feet, screaming for Paige at the top of her lungs and making a break for the stairs. She didn't even feel the pain in her throbbing knee, or notice the way one arm drooped impossibly low from her shoulder.

The demon smirked as she turned her back to him, propelling herself forward as best as she could. Maybe this wasn't the way he had planned it in his head, but the end result was the same. She was distracted, no longer thinking logically. Her back was turned to him.

"Paige, I need you!"

_She's back, again, as if nothing had happened. Again. But she is distracted, listening to a sound he can't hear and gazing at the ceiling with fear in her eyes._

_Now. Now is the time. Act. Act before her sister witch hears her call._

_She runs up the stairs, her enemy forgotten, and collides with the ball, vanishing in a puff of smoke before she can even utter a peep. Then another witch appears; he ends her too. Why wouldn't he?_

In the attic, Chris eyes snapped into focus, although the screaming didn't stop. But Leo saw the change. He saw the way his son's eyes now saw his face, and not some nameless terror beyond his reach. He would kill whoever was doing this to his sweet boy. He would rip them to pieces.

"He killed her!" Chris sobbed, "He killed Mommy, and he killed Auntie Paige, and he's gonna find us and kill us too."

"Chris, you need to listen to me." Leo spoke firmly, softly, trying to control the tremors in his own voice, "I don't know who's doing this to you, but it's not true. It's not real. I can hear mommy, and Auntie Paige isn't here."

"Paige!" Piper's shrill, authoritative demand filtered through to the attic, and Chris stopped crying and glanced into the reassuring forced smile of his father. Complete confusion overtook his face, and then he disappeared in a shower of orbs.

"Chris, no!"

But it was too late, Chris was already gone.

"Shit." Leo sat stunned for a half a second before he scrambled to his feet and raced for the door, "Shit shit shit shit."

Beside him, Wyatt too began to disappear, determined to follow his brother, but Leo pulled him back from the orb. Unfortunately, there was no gentle way of doing so. The look of utter surprise on Wyatt's tiny face as he landed hard on the wooden floor tore away a piece of Leo's heart, but he was far too relieved that he had managed to stop Wyatt from putting himself in danger too, to regret it. He would apologize as soon as Chris was safe. There was no time to comfort Wyatt now.

"You stay here!" he commanded, ignoring the new tears welling in Wyatt's eyes, "Don't you dare move, Wyatt. Sit here and do not, _do not_ come downstairs."

Wyatt nodded mutely, far too stunned to orb even if he wanted to.

Piper heard the orbs just as she made it past the first landing, but as she turned to tell Paige to make getting the boys and Leo to safety her primary objective, instead she was faced with Chris.

Her heart jumped into her throat, where were Leo and Wyatt?

Chris screamed her name, and as she turned back to him he dropped to the floor, his knees tucked under his chin as he screamed and cried with a level of panic she had not once seen in him in the four years since his birth.

Abandoning her quest to reach the attic, Piper turned and hurried back towards her son, relying on the last dredges of her adrenaline to carry her to him before the demon got there first.

"Piper! Watch for Chris, he –

"Daddy, no!"

Mother and father, only stairs apart, looked to Chris as he began screaming anew in earnest. Piper jumped the last few steps, barely grunting as her knee shifted in ways no human knee should, in her efforts to reach her son.

The fireball left the demon's hands moments before Piper jumped, and she could only watch as it smashed into the wall in front of Leo. Her stomach turned, and she swallowed back vomit and fought to stay conscious as he was sent flying over the railing, landing in an unconscious heap on the floor. She couldn't tell if he had been hit or not.

Another fireball barely missed her and Chris, and she tried to pry his hands away from his ears and keep an eye on the demon at the same time.

She failed. The next fireball glanced off her shoulder, and she bit her lip so hard, she drew blood as she bottled up her scream against the excruciating pain. She tried to fight through it, tried to tell her son to find his brother and get the hell out of the house, but before she could speak a word, her vision turned black.

_That's two down, one to go. Here she comes._

Paige orbed in next to Piper's unconscious body and took in the still form of Leo, and the understandably hysterical form of her nephew.

"Son of a bitch!"

Objects began flying at the demon faster than he could even see them coming; disappearing and reappearing in the same clusters of light she herself had arrived in. He threw a fireball, and then cried out in rage as she somehow managed to send it hurtling back at him.

_The risk is too great now, I won't catch her off guard. Retreat. Retreat and return soon, better prepared, and before they have a chance to regroup. Watch. Observe. Wait. It will come._

_The whole family, dead on the floor, brown wood sticky with dark congealing blood._

_The first witch; ripped limb from limb, begging for mercy._

_The boy, killed first as she watches, powerless. Then the human, then the sister witch, then, lastly, her, as she cries. Everything she knows, lost. _

Paige leaned over Piper's body as the demon shimmered out. Her sister's arm lay awkwardly by her side; pulled right from its socket as far as Paige could tell. Her other side was scorched from shoulder to hip, and Paige was willing to bet a good portion of her back had been damaged in the hit as well.

Chris was suddenly clinging to her, his head buried in the crook of her shoulder as he whimpered softly. She placed a soothing hand on his back, even as she reached around him with her other hand to get to Piper.

"It's okay Chris." She whispered, "She's going to be fine. Why don't you go sit by your dad for a minute while I fix Piper? Where's your brother?"

Chris shook his head and cried harder as the familiar yellow glow seeped from beneath Paige's hand.

"Daddy's dead. And Mommy's dead. And he killed you too, except for now you're here again, and I don't know… I don't know…."

"Hey now. Your dad isn't dead; he just got bumped on the head a little. And your mom isn't dead either; you know my power doesn't work on people who are already dead, and it's working just fine on Piper, see?"

Chris reluctantly brought his face from Paige's shoulder and turned around in her embrace. True to her word, there was a sickening pop as Piper's arm clicked back into place. There was another click as her damaged kneecap shifted, and then the charred, bubbling wounds down her side were slowly replaced with soft, clean, creamy skin. The rips and bloodstains on her white sundress were the last to fade, and finally, Piper groaned as her eyes fluttered open and she slowly sat up. Her eyes fell on Leo, who was just beginning to come to, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly remembering Chris's appearance moments before her loss of consciousness, her thoughts turned to the one family member that wasn't accounted for.

"Where's Wyatt?"

"I'm right here." Wyatt stood at the top of the stairs, cautiously inching his way down, standing clear of the open side that no longer contained a guard rail for him to hold.

Leo sat up and rubbed the back of his head, waving Paige off as she wordlessly offered to heal him.

"I know you said stay in the attic," Wyatt added quickly, looking at Leo, "but it got really quiet and I was all by myself."

Leo watched as Wyatt hovered at the bottom of the staircase; neither child was accustomed to demon attacks being addressed with anything less than complete calm by both parents, and there was no doubt in his mind that his own fear had furthered Wyatt's. He stood quickly and pulled Wyatt into his lap, then he sat down on the bottom step.

"It's alright Wyatt. I know I scared you, and I'm very sorry for that. I didn't mean to yell, I was just afraid you were going to get hurt."

"You were scared?"

"I was very scared. But I wasn't angry with you at all, okay buddy?"

Wyatt nodded and leaned back comfortably against Leo's chest.

Piper smiled and crouched down in front of Chris, who was still quietly clinging to Paige's skirt. "You okay honey?"

She reached out to cup his cheek, and then drew her hand back in surprise when he flinched away from her.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Chris looked into the concerned, deep brown eyes that had, on so many occasions, fixed everything that was wrong in his world. He wanted to touch her, to run his hands over her face, to smell her shirt and breathe in the scent that was distinctly his mother; but he didn't want her to disappear. He didn't want to see her go away again, because at the heart of the matter, he was afraid that one of the times he saw her vanish, she wasn't going to be able to come back.

"Chris?" She repeated softly.

When he felt the gentle, warm pressure of her hand coming to rest against his hip, he lost his resolve and released his grip on his aunt, flinging his arms around his mother's neck and squeezing fiercely. She couldn't vanish with him holding on to her. Not without taking him with her. And he didn't want to be anywhere that she wasn't.

"You're real? You're not going away?" he whispered.

"I'm very real. And I'm not going anywhere."

"I can't tell… it makes me not know which one is right…"

"Talk to me, sweetie." She whispered softly in his ear, running her fingers through his thick hair, "Tell me what's bothering you."

He mumbled something into her shoulder, but she couldn't make out what it was. She frowned and tried to pull his arms from around her neck, but he resisted. "Chris," she laughed, "I can't hear you when you hold me so tightly."

"Something happened to him while we were in the attic." Leo informed her seriously, "He was hallucinating; the demon must have been doing something. When he came out of it, he thought you had died, and when he heard you calling for Paige he became confused and orbed."

"Maybe it was a premonition. Maybe when he orbed down here it prevented whatever was going to happen." Paige suggested.

Leo shook his head, "It lasted far longer than the premonitions that even Phoebe gets. It doesn't make any sense."

"What's, 'huh-llu-sating'?" Wyatt asked, craning his neck to see Leo's face.

"It's when you see things that aren't actually happening, but you feel like they're real."

At this, Chris relinquished his grip on Piper – slightly – in order to glare at his father, "I didn't make it up! It was happening!"

"I know you didn't make it up, Chris." Leo comforted, "I know it seemed very real, no one thinks you made it up. But it couldn't have happened, because you're holding your mom right now. Paige came to help her, and they're both okay."

Chris began to shake his head so violently, Piper placed a cushioning hand against the side of his face to keep him from hurting himself.

"It was real." He maintained.

The adults traded helpless glances, and then Piper forcibly pulled Chris away from her body so that she could look him in the eye, "What did you see?"

Chris dropped his eyes to the floor, refusing to meet her gaze, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Honey –

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" He yelled as he burst into tears again. "I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk! I don't want to. I don't want to."

"Okay, okay." Piper murmured, pulling him back into her arms.

"Please don't make me." He sobbed as he resumed his death grip around her neck.

Piper sighed and stood up straight, unable to settle him on her hip as she usually would, due to his refusal to ease up on her throat. She placed one hand on his back and the other beneath his bottom, the way she had held him when he had been much smaller than he was now.

"I'm not going to make you. We can wait until you're ready."

"Piper," Paige began cautiously, fully aware of the thin ice she was about to set out on, "We can't fully prepare for whatever that, _thing_ was unless we ask-

"I said, we can wait until he's ready." Piper repeated slowly. Her eyes burned brightly, and Paige relented, knowing better than to pick a fight with Piper when one of her kids was involved.

Piper relaxed slightly from her warrior stance when she saw that Paige wasn't going to push the issue any further. She offered her sister a wan smile, "Feel like staying for clean up?"

It was an obvious change of subject, but Paige played along.

"I think not." She snorted, "I don't live here anymore."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Thanks sis."

"I might be willing to stick around and spend some quality time with my nephews while _you_ clean up though." Paige grinned.

"Ah, I see how this works." Piper gave her sister a genuine smile this time, "You offer to do some light babysitting while my kids are traumatized and not likely to give you any problems, and stick me with the real work."

Paige shrugged, "I admit it freely."

"Do you think we should call Phoebe?"

Paige shook her head, "She has some award dinner thing tonight. I'm looking after Laura; I'll fill her in and we'll get a fresh start with this tomorrow."

Piper nodded her agreement and jiggled Chris lightly in her arms, "What do you say? Do you want to hang out with your Auntie Paige for a bit while I clean up?"

Neither boy was open to this suggestion. Suddenly shy, Wyatt buried himself deeper in Leo's chest and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, at the same time as Chris tightened his already painful grip on Piper. She coughed once and then tugged on his arm.

"Chris, sweetie you're hurting me."

Paige let out an exaggerated sigh and ambled in the direction of the kitchen, "Guess I'll just have to raid the ice cream in the freezer by myself."

Ice cream was the magic word. Wyatt's head perked up instantly, and, all troubles forgotten, he scrambled off Leo's lap and hurried after his aunt. "Can we make sundaes?"

"Paige!" Piper protested, "They haven't eaten dinner yet!"

"Oh, come on Piper." Paige charmed, hefting Wyatt into the air and carefully spinning him in a circle by his arms, "This day is a write-off anyway… they spent the day at the beach living off chips and hotdogs."

"And whose fault was that?"

"Mommy doesn't buy hotdogs, remember?" Wyatt stage whispered, "She says they're not good for you."

"Yeah? Wanna know a secret about your mommy?"

"Missy Paige, tread carefully."

Chris peeked out from Piper's shoulder and watched Wyatt giggle uncontrollably as Paige tossed him about. After a moment's hesitation, he began kicking his legs, silently begging Piper to put him down.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he ran over to where Paige was standing and put his arms up, demanding his turn. She was only too happy to oblige. When she put him down and began walking to the kitchen, the boys scurried after her.

"Can I take down the sprinkles?" Chris's voice carried as they turned the corner.

"Personal g-!…" Piper cut herself off and sighed, "Seriously, why do I bother?"

Leo laughed, and she offered him her hands and pulled him up from the step. He folded her body into his arms, and she heaved a contented sigh against his chest, listening to the familiar, comfortable beat of his heart beneath her head.

"Hi." She murmured.

"Hi." He murmured back.

She pulled her head up from his chest and gave him a sad smile, "I'm worried about him. I've never seen him freak out like that."

"Me neither. You'll figure it out though. The three of you always do."

"You help too." She stated, pressing a soft kiss against his lips when he flushed lightly, "I know I don't say it as often as I should, but I appreciate what you do for us. What you've given up."

Before he could respond, Chris inched his way back into the hallway, his index finger tucked between his teeth. Leo released his hold on Piper and crouched down to his son's level.

"What's the matter? Did Wyatt orb the whipped cream away from you again?"

Chris shook his head and turned his large green eyes toward his mother, frustration written across his face at his inability to spit out whatever it was that he so desperately wanted to say. Piper too kneeled down beside him and pulled him into a gentle hug, relieved when he didn't cut off her supply of oxygen this time. When he pulled away, he continued staring at her face, searching for something.

Piper leaned forward and kissed his cheek before cupping his chin in her hand, "I'll be right here. It's okay for you to go have fun."

He finally removed his finger from his mouth and found his voice, "Do you promise?"

"I promise." Piper smiled, even as her eyes began to sparkle with tears, "I'll be right here in the hall if you need me."

He finally gave a full toothed grin, his burden lifted, and took off running down the hall to the kitchen.

Piper watched him disappear, then took a moment to listen to the soft voices carrying over from the kitchen. Peals of laughter were soon to follow, and Piper rolled her eyes, assuming Paige had done something hilarious for the boys' entertainment that _she _was going to be the one to suffer for later. Like the time Paige had showed off by squirting chocolate sauce into the air, and then orbing the stream to the glasses of ice cream sitting on the table across the room. When Paige had done it, the chocolate sauce had landed neatly inside the glasses before it had a chance to hit the ground. When Wyatt and Chris had tried it, the end result had not so much been the same.

Her gratitude to Paige however, for making Chris laugh, was enough to stomp out any feelings of irritation she may have otherwise had. She blinked away the last of her concern and grinded her teeth, sadness giving way to rage as she thought about the demon that had dared try to fuck with her son's mind. He wouldn't ever get the chance to do it again; she would make sure of that. Determination hardened the lines of her face, and she turned to the staircase, before she remembered that she had just promised Chris she wouldn't stray far from the hallway. She paused for a moment, torn between keeping her word, and hoping Chris wouldn't come looking for her in the thirty seconds it would take to run to the attic and back. After a moment of indecision, she sighed and resigned herself to the ruins of her home. As she stared at the disaster zone she was standing in, she suppressed a giggle as a thought occurred to her; at least she wasn't Leo. It wasn't her job to rebuild everything that got torn apart in the manor after the dust had settled; she probably would have given up long ago if it was. Leo. That was an idea. Leo could go upstairs for her.

She turned around to face her husband, but he was no longer there. She looked up in surprise when she heard his shoes on the stairs above.

"Leo?"

There was a pause as he backtracked, jogging to the top landing and peeking around the corner, "Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh." He grinned, "I was just grabbing the book from the attic for you. Then I'm going to try and get to the hardware store before it closes."

Her face relaxed into the easy, contented smile that he lived for.

"Thank you."

Leo grinned wider and pushed a few stray locks of hair out of his eyes. "Anytime."

She watched him disappear, and gave a bemused shake of her head as she listened to his feet stomp through the house. He was as bad as their boys. She pulled her hair back into a loose half ponytail and then got to work with the broom.

* * *

"Just one more time Auntie Paige." Chris begged. "If I don't get it, I _promise_ I won't ask again."

"Piper is going to kill me." Paige stated.

Wyatt giggled around the spoon in his hand overloaded with ice cream, "We're not gonna tell."

Paige lifted an eyebrow, "You don't have to. You two monkeys practice this stuff, and she always knows I'm the one who showed you in the first place."

"Daddy can't orb anymore." Chris reminded her, "We can't practice this one without you, we're not strong enough."

Paige sighed, "Oh alright. But this is the _last_ time, okay?"

Chris grinned and nodded in excitement, "I'm ready."

Wyatt and Chris could both orb, but somehow, they got a bigger kick out of _being_ orbed. The game had started some time ago; Paige had been babysitting them one late, rambunctious night, and Wyatt had orbed away from her when she tried to make him brush his teeth. Instead of orbing after him, a frustrated and impatient Paige had simply tele-orbed him back. The look of shock on his face when he reappeared in the bathroom had lasted all of three seconds before he broke into a wide smile and begged her to do it again. As time went on, and the boys gained better control of their powers, new twists were added.

The way it stood now, the game was best described as a demented form of hide-and-seek. It was no longer necessary for Paige to audibly call for objects, but to make the game easier on her nephews and provide them with fair warning, she did it anyway. The goal was to orb somewhere else, under their own steam, while in the middle of being transported through hers; an orb within an orb. If they were successful – which, as it stood now, was only about three percent of the time – it was Paige's job to seek them out without following their orb trail.

"Just remember, if you pull this off, you aren't allowed to orb outside of the kitchen. Your mom's home, and if you do it, I'm not coming after you, capisce?"

Chris nodded again and waited eagerly for the game to begin.

"Chris!" Paige called from near the counter.

Chris disappeared from his place at the table and promptly landed heavily within Paige's arms. She took a step backwards for balance, and ended up crashing into the fridge and landing on the floor, taking her nephew down with her. Chris giggled and clapped his hands, while Paige checked on whether or not her hip was still in place.

"You are getting way too heavy for this game little dude." She groaned as she pushed him off her stomach. Chris went back to the table and exchanged a high five with Wyatt.

"Are you guys okay in there?" Piper's voice drifted in from somewhere down the hall.

Wyatt and Chris erupted into a new fit of giggles as Paige tried to glare them into silence. "Peachy!" she called back.

She rejoined them at the table and took a spoonful of her far less colourful sundae, trying not to grimace as she watched the boys inhale a good six hundred calories of sugar. Yep, Piper was definitely going to kill her.

The boys chatted animatedly to one another, sometimes including Paige, other times content to just have her sit with them. In the end, it was Wyatt who brought up the earlier attack, even as Paige was doing her best to wait for the right time to do so herself. It was probably for the best, because no one could make Chris talk the way Wyatt could… and as necessary as she had known it would be, she had been having a tough time working herself up to guiding the conversation to a subject she knew would wipe the cheerful smile clear from Chris's face.

"Auntie Paige? What kinds of demons can make you hallusate?"

Paige watched Chris's arm freeze with his spoon halfway to his mouth, then he slowly continued eating, pretending not to listen to the conversation.

"There are a few of them." Paige answered carefully, "This one demon, Barbas, made witches think they were seeing things that they were really scared of. But your mom is the one that helped us beat him."

Chris's head perked up at this, but still he said nothing. Wyatt however, smiled. He had the best mom ever.

"What'd she do?"

"Well, he made her see things, think things, that weren't real. And even though she was scared, even though she was _very_ scared, she kept telling herself that it wasn't happening; that she didn't have to be afraid. And then, because she wasn't afraid anymore, she helped Phoebe and I stop being afraid as well."

"Did she blow him up? I bet she did." Wyatt laughed.

Paige paused, it was more complicated than that, but Piper _had_ blown him up, even if he had come back afterwards. "Yeah, she did. She would do anything to save Phoebe and I, and the three of us would do anything to save the two of you and Laura. You know that, right?"

Wyatt nodded confidently, and Chris dropped his spoon in the murky puddle that was what remained of his sundae.

"If I tell you what he put in my head, you can know what one did it?"

"Dude, you are looking at Paige; AKA Super Aunt. I can do anything." She joked, forcing herself to take a casual bite of her ice cream. "I know it's scary for you to think about, but I promise, you'll feel better after you talk about it. We just want to help you; you're my very favourite nephew…. don't tell Wyatt." She added with a wink.

Her comment had the desired effect on Chris; he began laughing as Wyatt put together a fake pout.

"Auntie Paige." He whined.

"I'm just kidding. I love you two troublemakers the exact same."

Chris picked up his spoon and began absently swirling around the syrupy mess in his cup, "Things kept happening… bad things. First just to mom, but then to you too. And right before he left, I saw bad things happening to all of us."

"What kind of bad things?"

"I don't know." Chris frowned, "It was a different bad thing every time… it feels like it didn't even happen anymore. Like when you think about a movie you haven't watched in a really long time… does that make sense Auntie Paige?"

"It makes perfect sense." She said, rubbing a hand over his back. "Just tell me what you remember. What's the last thing you remember before it started?"

Chris bit his lip as he concentrated, then his eyes lit up as a thought came to him, "Snakes and Ladders. I brought the box down from the shelf all by myself." He boasted.

Paige smiled, "Good for you."

"Then Wy asked if I wanted to be green or blue, and I remembered I got put in time out when I fought to be blue before, and I was blue last time, so I said Wy could be blue. And then we were laughing at daddy, 'cause he always loses, and then…"

His voice trailed off as he struggled to remember exactly how it had all began.

"And then?" Paige prodded gently.

"He- He threw a fire. But he threw it- he threw it one way because he knew mommy would jump the other way, and he threw the other one when she jumped, and I tried to tell her not to move that way, I did Auntie Paige, but she didn't hear me, and she moved where he wanted her to. And he- he…"

"He hit her." Paige finished softly.

"Mmm hmm." Chris sniffed, "But then she came back, and it was like before he even threw it. They were standing in the same spot and everything. Except this time when he threw it one way, mommy didn't move the other way; she didn't move at all. She stood there and she blew up the fire."

Paige frowned; that didn't make any sense at all. Why would a demon project a hallucination he gets his ass kicked in? And why to Chris at all? Unless he was anticipating how bad of a distraction it would be for Piper…

"What happened next?"

"Umm, when she blew up the fire she fell behind the couch… and then he was mad, and he said he was going to get rid of the couch, and then he did, and mommy was hurt and she wasn't looking at him anymore…"

"And how did she come back that time?"

"I don't know. I don't know how she came back any of the times. She was just back. And the couch wasn't blowed up anymore, and he wanted to blow it up, but before he could mommy jumped over it and attacked him and started yelling."

"What did she say?"

Chris paused, "She said a bad word. One of the words Wyatt and me aren't s'posed to say."

Paige chuckled and left it at that. "Okay. What next?"

"She started calling you, but you weren't coming fast enough so she tried to come upstairs… I don't know why she was going upstairs."

"Maybe she heard you crying." Wyatt interjected.

Chris frowned, "But I thought daddy said it wasn't real?"

"Yeah, but you were crying really loud for real."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Wy."

Wyatt's logic may have appeased Chris, but Paige understood his original question, perhaps on a level he hadn't even intended when he voiced it. It didn't make sense for a hallucinatory Piper to respond to the real life cries of Chris.

"Do you remember what happened next?"

"Mommy kept trying to climb the stairs… she wasn't even looking at the demon anymore… it was like she forgot him. And then he hit her. And then you came, and he hit you too."

"Is that when she came back again? When I came back?"

Chris shook his head, "No, that's when I orbed downstairs."

"Okay, so you came downstairs, and then we came back?"

Chris shook his head again, "First just mommy did. And then she was looking at me, and he did it again. But then it was like he didn't do it, because she was still there. And then daddy came downstairs and he got them both. But then it happened again, and he only got daddy because mommy was by me. And then it stopped."

"It stopped? Just like that?"

Chris frowned, "Kind of. I think so… I could still hear him talking, but he wasn't killing you anymore… wait, he did one more time… I think that's when you came back Auntie Paige. And then he hit you once, but you came back again and when he threw it again, you threw it back at him. And he was mad because he didn't know you could do that."

Paige swallowed as the sick feeling built in her stomach and traveled into her throat. Piper was not going to be happy about this. She was not going to be happy at all. And the fact that a demon wasn't responsible was going to be cold comfort.

"How do you know what he was mad about?"

Chris tilted his head in confusion, "You don't remember?"

Paige shook her head, "No honey, I'm sorry, I don't."

"He said so, 'member? And he called you that word… that same bad word that mommy used. You used it too when you came, remember?"

Paige closed her eyes and raised a hand to her temple, "I'm sorry Chris, I really don't remember. Tell me exactly what he said when I threw the fireball back at him. Just leave out the bad word."

Chris thought hard before looking back into his cup, "I don't want to."

"But you did hear him say it? Out loud?"

The puzzled look returned to Chris's face, "It was loud so I could hear… so everybody could hear. Isn't everything you hear out loud?"

* * *

Piper sat on the floor against the wall watching Leo level the plaster that now covered the hole her body had made in the drywall.

"You might want to keep that cement stuff out for awhile… I'm pretty sure Paige is helping the boys put new holes in the kitchen; I'm afraid to look, but we might as well fix everything at one time."

Leo laughed, "I'm sure she'd rather magically fix it when Wyatt and Chris aren't looking than leave it for you to find and risk your wrath."

"As long as I don't get sucked into sharing the personal gain consequence, I will not complain."

"My ears are burning." Paige remarked, sauntering down the hall with her hands in her skirt pockets, "Slandering my good name again?"

Piper opened her mouth to make the expected sarcastic return, but the look on Paige's face told her their conversation wasn't going to remain light for long. She stood up and put her hands on her hips as Leo finished the final touch-ups and began cleaning up after himself.

"What's wrong?" She asked gravely.

"We've got a problem."

* * *

_I know Phoebe hasn't seen much action so far, but I promise I'm not ignoring her forever. I really like Phoebe when she's not in her uber-annoying "I want a baby I want a baby I want a baby I want a baby" mode; to be completely honest, my problem lies in writing Coop. I'm not his number one fan. Or his number two fan. Or number three. You get the picture. I'm working on it, and he'll be around too since, my personal feelings aside, his absence would be conspicuous, but it's going to take a little time. Sorry to any and all Phoebe/Coop lovers out there… but I'm just not sold on it… or on him, rather. And hey, you knew this was going to be pretty much all about Piper from the getgo, lol. I may ramble, but I never lie._


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter three! Thanks so much for the reviews… they always brighten my day, and it's great to hear what people are thinking. I was doing a read-through just now when a friend's phonecall interrupted, and now I'm leaving town for what's left of the long weekend, but I really wanted to get this out before I took off. Generally I try to thoroughly edit before posting, but since I'm in a rush it's probable I missed a mistake or two. The responsible thing, I guess, would be to wait until I'm not so pressed for time before posting… buut me being the impatient soul that I am, it's not going to happen. Happy weekend everyone!

* * *

**Chapter Three**

The demon lurked in one of the many dank caves of the underworld, mourning the loss of a perfectly good arm at the hands of that _witch_. He had to think of a new plan, and he had to think of it fast. He had been sent, nay, _chosen_, above the fellow members of his clan, to launch the initial attack. And he had failed. Lisgav would not be pleased. He needed to return to the Halliwell manor and finish what he had started before-

"You failed."

The shadow in the darkness was suddenly no longer a shadow, and then the very demon he had been hoping to avoid was standing in his presence.

"You had specific instructions."

"Yes, Lisgav."

"I was told you were the most powerful of your kind."

"Yes."

And yet, you failed me."

"No."

The feigned patience, feigned indifference, of his superior vanished without a trace, and before he could raise his one arm in defence, he was forced against the cold tavern wall, and pinned by his throat.

"What were your instructions?"

"I almost had them."

"What," Lisgav repeated menacingly, "were your instructions?"

"To wait for their return. To observe the patterns of the eldest witch, and report back to you. To only strike if I was certain beyond doubt that I would succeed."

The Charmed ones could be unbelievably unfocused; it was a well known fact amongst demons. But equally well known, was the high death rate among demons who didn't quickly and accurately execute their attacks. The only success, really, belonged to Shax. _His_ demise had been unexpected; no one could have known another sister would come to take the eldest's place in the trio.

If there was anything to be learned from the years of failure by the side of evil, it was that those who came closest to succeeding in destroying the Charmed ones, attacked the women as sisters, humans, instead of as witches. They were creatures of habit; silly, human women who followed silly human patterns. The plan had been simple, and it _would_ have been effective; out of the followers, select the few lower-levels who were capable of thinking, capable of acting rationally instead of being slave to primeval impulses, to watch the house. To observe the patterns. Deduce when they were most vulnerable to slaughter. But now, one unreliable subordinate's rash decision had stirred the proverbial hornet's nest. The Charmed Ones would come, and they would not rest until one, perhaps many, demons paid for the attack. Really, he had only himself to blame; this was what came of trusting a Tryvsix. No matter. He could fix this. And he would start with this worthless servant who had so unnecessarily complicated it all.

Lisgav put a hand on the demon's shoulder and grinned as he felt the power of the lesser being flow through him. Obviously, his own powers could serve as more than adequate, but it was, fun, somehow, killing others with theirs.

He drew back his arm and stared curiously at the fireball glowing in his palm; He couldn't imagine wielding this pathetic weapon as his main offensive power. Then he shrugged and tossed the ball forward with little interest.

Before the demon's screams of agony were complete, before the fire obliterated him, Lisgav had already disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

"Look, who's to say we're not grateful? Look at this face; there's nothing but gratitude written all over it." Paige paused to plaster an overtly fake grin across her face. "All I'm saying is, I don't think it's asking too much for you to just hold on to it for a little while. You know, like say, until he's out of kindergarten."

Odin sneered at her, and Paige felt a new wave of contempt boiling up within her. She had come to the bridge willingly; and that was a rarity. It was no secret that she tended to miss the calls of the Elders when she heard Odin's voice hammering inside her head, and now, here she was, being forced to deal with the one Elder she had so successfully managed to avoid for eight solid months.

"It is not up to me to decide when a witch receives their powers; it happens when they are ready to handle the power."

Paige clenched her fists at her sides when he delivered a superior smile. Regardless of his opinions of herself and her family, the pleasure he seemed to be getting out of this was absolutely heartless.

"You think this is funny?" She snapped, "This isn't one of us you're punishing right now; it's a four year old child. What the hell's the matter with you?"

"_I _am not the one who broke the rules; Leo and Piper brazenly defied us, and then when they were caught, they begged and pleaded and ignored their duties for so long, many of the Elders conceded to their marriage in the desperate – obviously vain – hope that they would finally begin doing their jobs. It should never have been allowed in the first place."

Paige crossed her arms, stubbornly refusing to get sucked in to this age old, bitter argument that had been going on between Piper, Leo and the Elders for as long as she had been aware of her own magic.

"Rules are made for a reason, Paige. Piper and Leo broke the rules. Piper and Leo married. Then Piper and Leo decided to have children. They never once considered the effect mixing magic would have on those offspring, and now they must deal with the consequences."

"I don't understand."

"And I'm not surprised. Unlike yourself, Chris wasn't born from an ordinary witch; he is the son of a Charmed one, and an Elder. Arguably the worst decision we ever made, promoting that-

"So Chris has to suffer, because you still can't let go of the fact that Leo married Piper. That he chose to stay with her, instead of staying with you."

"It's not that simple." Odin snapped impatiently, "For you to think that we have nothing better to do with our time than think of childish ways to inconvenience _you _three… it's insulting."

"Where's Sandra?" Paige asked, syrupy sweetly.

"Doing her job. Which, if I may add for the last time, does not involve catering to the every whim of the Charmed Ones. Understand this, Paige; Chris is the product of two potent forces of magic. His new power is a heightened form of telepathy; resulting from a combination of Whitelighter sensing, and Witch clairvoyance. The two gifts have mutated into something extraordinary."

"But he _sees_ the thoughts. They play out like a movie in his head. And he can't tell which one is the illusion, and which one is us. It's going to get someone killed."

"Telepathy is a hard gift to handle, despite age, but Chris coming into it so early will benefit you all in the long run. It's just a matter of learning to control it."

Paige ran out of patience. She couldn't listen to him speak so indifferently, so strategically, about the new power that was bound to destroy her nephew's life. Forgetting her intention to calmly, rationally charm the Elders into retracting the power – something she hadn't thought would have been too hard, at the time – her response to Odin's apathetic attitude was neither alluring, nor particularly subtle.

"Take it back!" She demanded.

He smirked, knowing just as well as she did that she held no real power against him.

"You have your answers." He stated condescendingly, "I suggest you relay them to the boy's parents."

Without another word, Odin orbed away, and Paige mentally kicked herself for losing her temper. Reluctantly, she concentrated on the manor and cringed at the unease she could feel radiating from her sister. The longer she cowered on this bridge, the longer Piper's rampant imagination would wreak havoc on her sanity. She needed to go back.

* * *

Advancing powers.

The thought made Piper sick to her stomach. She had been a full grown adult when her powers first advanced, and the adjustment period had been terrible; who in their right minds gave a power like this to a four year old boy?

During Wyatt's time as a toddler, there had been a moment or two – brief moments, but moments nonetheless – when she _had_ been tempted to bind his powers. Not forever, not even until adolescence; just until he was old enough to understand why it was so important to be cautious with magic. The incident with the Cleaners had stayed with her; she had wanted him to be safe. She hadn't wanted to be forced to fight the forces of good as well as evil in order to raise her son. She had never discussed it with Leo, she hadn't been able to bring herself to do so after being so adamantly against it when they had been dealing with Ludlow, but the pull had been there. However, when she had looked at her little boy, when she had watched his bright blue eyes alight with happiness, seen his wide smile that had been the constant reminder of the husband she had thought lost to her, she had never been able to put further thought into the matter. She hadn't wanted to stifle any part of who Wyatt deserved to get to be. At the end of it all, she had realized that binding Wyatt's powers wouldn't have been in his best interest; it would have been in hers. It would have been denying him his gifts in order to make her life less stressful, and that was a selfish act she couldn't live with.

Now, the temptation had found her again, and even though it pained her to think about it, remembering the look of sheer terror on Chris's face, remembering his tiny body shaking and hunched in a defensive ball, that was worse. It wasn't simply a power that served as an inconvenience to everyday life until one found control; it was a power that would leave lasting, damaging scars on any adult, never mind a child who couldn't grasp the difference between what a demon _wished_ would happen, and reality.

Perhaps the most frustrating part was that, even now, she knew binding his powers could be potentially just as damaging as not binding them; there was no doubt in her mind that he would see it as a punishment. Chris would assume that he had done something wrong, especially since Wyatt would still have his. The boys had been playing magical games together since well-before Chris turned two… she couldn't very well bind one child's powers and not the other's without sending very mixed signals to her sons. And even if she did, soon, Laura would come into her powers as well; was she willing to exclude Chris from every magical mishap – the good and the bad – his brother and cousins created? As often as she wished for the two of them to be more careful, there was no denying the bonding that had come of their countless adventures together. She could not, would not, make him an outcast amongst his own family.

She wanted to spare him. She wanted to give him the childhood he deserved. She wanted him to enjoy his early years without being tainted by demons. But more than anything, she wanted to kick herself for all the times she had half-heartedly wished the boys took demons seriously, instead of seeing them as a joke due to their absolute faith in her ability to protect them. Until this point, Wyatt and Chris had viewed the occasional demon as simply a part of their lives, and she should have accepted that as an indication that she was doing something right – even if it _did_ make her worry – instead of trying to instil fear in them like the idiot she was. As always, her big mouth and stupid wishes had screwed them all in the end.

"This isn't your fault."

His voice was soft, but she jumped anyway.

"Leo!" She whispered, exasperated, "You've got to stop doing that!"

He gave her a sheepish grin and looked past her shoulder to the rough forms of his sons, buried under mountains of blankets. He wrapped his arms around her waist and felt her relax into his touch as they watched Chris, on the bottom bunk, raise a pyjama–clad arm to rub his nose.

"I heard you playing referee earlier." He commented.

"Yes… thanks for coming to back me up, by the way." She replied ruefully.

Leo laughed, "I was working on the railing; you sounded like you had it under control."

"Wyatt accidentally used Chris's toothbrush."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"…and then Chris telekinetically flung Wyatt's into the toilet."

"Oh."

"Yep."

The rage surged through her body, again, as she thought of the two boys fighting in the bathroom. She hated magic. She _hated _it. She hadn't asked for any of this, and now her children had become pawns in the same sick game she had grown tired of playing years ago. A game she hadn't wanted any part of from the very beginning. For hours now, she had been forced to reign in her emotions; ever since Paige returned from the bridge and confirmed that Chris's attack had been a form of telepathy; a power growth. She had helped Leo finish the repairs when all she had wanted to do was take a hammer to every surface she could find. And when she had watched Chris, so adamant, even as she scolded him, that Wyatt had only received what he had coming for having the audacity to use a toothbrush that wasn't his, she couldn't help but wonder how many more attacks it would take before that stubborn part of his personality was beaten away to nothing. It was more than she could handle.

Leo felt her stiffen in his arms, and he knew the exact dark place her mind had gone to. He knew that dark place, because he was trapped in it as well. When she pushed away from him and walked down the hallway to their room without a word, he softly brought the boys' door to a close and prepared himself for what was to come.

* * *

"No Leo. You do _not_ get to tell me to calm down. He is our _son_. He is just a little boy. _My_ little boy…" her voice cracked and she swiped a hand roughly across her eyes, "… they can't do this. He deserves a carefree childhood. It's not fair."

Piper's voice, thick with emotion, tugged fiercely at Leo's chest and he concentrated hard on pushing back his own heartbreak. They couldn't afford to both fall to pieces right now. As much as he knew it frustrated Piper when he spoke rationally during times she just wanted him to show that his feelings of distress matched hers, somebody had to focus on finding a solution. If he let his emotions out of the box now, there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to lock them back in when the situation called for a more level head.

"Piper…" he started, reaching to place a comforting hand on her arm.

"No!" She yelled, yanking her arm away from his touch and storming out of reach before whirling around to face him again. "No." she repeated, "Do not _Piper_ me in that tone of voice."

Piper took a gasping breath as the tears choked her, forcing oxygen down her constricted throat. She swallowed once, then again and again in a vain attempt to be rid of the painful lump. Looking up at her husband through glassy eyes, a new emotion was added to her roller-coaster; Guilt. That often felt, rarely acknowledged twinge she felt when she looked into Leo's expressive green eyes and knew that as much as she was hurting him, he would not allow passion to cloud his good sense. Not now.

He held his hands up in surrender, "What would you like me to do?"

And then she looked at him with those tortured brown eyes and ripped his heart right out of his chest.

"Fix it." She pleaded, barely audible, all traces of hostility vanished without a trace as the tears finally began to slip unchecked down her smooth cheeks.

"Oh honey." He sighed. This time when he touched her there was no resistance; all the fight had left her trembling frame and she allowed him to lead her to their bed. Sitting down on the edge, Piper drew her legs close to her body and buried her face in the chest of the only person whose pain could match her own.

"He'll be okay." Leo murmured in her ear as he held her securely against his body. "We'll love him, and help him as best we can, just like we always have. And he will turn out okay. He wouldn't have been given this gift if he couldn't handle it."

Piper pushed herself out of his arms and gave a snort of disbelief. "He's barely four years old for Christ's sake. It's not a gift, not now. It is one thing to simply see demons attacking, but to actually _hear_ them? To sit with you upstairs, where he should be safe, listening all the while, _visualizing_ all the while, their plans for killing his family? It is _not_ fair. We won't always be able to get him to magic school in time to avoid damage; sometimes they show up too quickly, you _know_ this!"

Leo ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "What I know is that Chris is already exceptionally alert for a child… there is a strength about him that… well, you saw him earlier at the beach with Wyatt."

He bumped her shoulder gently with his and Piper managed to choke out a short laugh at the memory. Leo smiled and she rolled her eyes, a trace of a grin on her lips as the tears thinned and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"I just don't want him to grow up afraid. I want him to be happy."

"He _is_ happy. And yeah, this may be rough on him for awhile, I don't doubt that." He paused a moment to push a few lengths of wavy hair away from Piper's face, then continued. "But I have as much faith in him handling his abilities as I have ever had in you and your sisters. He's a mighty force to be reckoned with, and he doesn't get that strength from me. He has the same Halliwell fighting spirit that I see every day and love so much in his mother."

Piper dried her face with her sleeve and rubbed the redness from her eyes. His seemingly boundless patience, his ability to console her, made her heart twinge almost painfully with love. Slightly calmer now, she leaned back into her husband's embrace and let her head rest in the crook of his shoulder. They shared a restorative silence, drawing strength from the comfort they took in each other's presence for a few moments before Piper broke the quiet.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." She admitted grudgingly.

"You're always yelling at me." He chuckled. "I barely even notice anymore."

He feigned injury as she slapped his thigh indignantly, "Ow, hey! I'm mortal now; you have to be careful with me."

Piper raised an eyebrow, "Is that a fact?"

"It is." He nodded solemnly.

"Well if you think you're going to get two apologies from me in one day, you're crazy." She retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Is that a fact?" Leo mimicked, raising an eyebrow of his own and tossing his head back in a fashion that was decidedly Piper-esque.

"It is." Piper returned, managing to semi-hold her straight face for all of half a second before she dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"That's the way it's going to be, huh?"

"Uh huh. Unless there's something you're planning on doing about it?" She challenged.

"As long as you're asking…" he began mischievously.

Piper's eyes widened in panic a moment before she hurled herself off the mattress, but her sudden movement was just a fraction of a second too late as Leo lunged forward and caught her easily around the waist, pulling her back onto the bed and tickling her side mercilessly.

She shrieked and grasped at his hands blindly as she writhed on the bed, desperately trying to evade his wandering fingers. "No! Leo, stop I'm serious!"

"I'm serious too! Seriously attached to this apology I feel I more than deserve."

Piper giggled as he continued his assault, and Leo felt the weight of the world lift from his chest. He loved seeing Piper happy; he loved knowing it was occasionally within his power to make her happy. He knew he sometimes said all the wrong things where she was concerned, and it felt good to see that this time, he had gotten things exactly right. There were two things of which he was certain; there was no one in any world capable of getting under his generally passive skin the way Piper did…often. And there was no world he could live in without her in it.

Sensing a slight distraction in his expression, Piper changed tactics and released her all but nonexistent hold on his hands in order to draw her own hands upward. Just before she could manage a decent shot, and before she was fully aware he had even moved, Leo trapped both her wrists in one hand with surprising speed and pinned them to the mattress above her head. His grip was loose, and they both knew she could easily free herself if she so desired, but suddenly Piper was not so sure escape was what she wanted. Their positions had gone from playful to intimate in the blink of an eye, and their eyes locked as they panted lightly.

"Using magic to gain the upper hand? That was a dirty play Miss Halliwell." Leo growled, his face inches from hers.

"It seemed like a worthwhile move at the time." She breathed.

Leo watched her chest heave up and down, and he traced a path over her breast with his free hand, grinning in satisfaction as she inhaled sharply.

The jolt continued through her body like a current even after he withdrew his hand, and Piper was suddenly all too aware of his leg tangled between hers, and the weight of his hip brushing against her stomach. Leo's eyes had darkened, and all of a sudden the last thing in the world she wanted to do was continue this stupid game. With no further warning, she lifted her head and slammed her mouth against his.

She would die inside without him, of this she was sure.

The thought snuck up on her, the way it did from time to time, and as usual, once it wormed its way in she was powerless to force it back out. Each time he was stolen away from her was harder to survive than the last, and the thought of never having this again – never having his tongue slide over hers the way it was doing now as his hand crept its way underneath her bra – was enough to bring tears to her eyes. His years as a whitelighter had caused them more than a few problems, but at least she hadn't worried about him then, not the way she did now. Not in a way that caused moments like this to hurt almost as deeply as they gave pleasure. She increased the pressure of her tongue in his mouth and forced him onto his back, all in one fluid motion. Her hands frantically fumbled with the belt on his jeans; the thought of going one more moment without him inside of her unexpectedly proving more than she could bear. She needed them connected, she needed to be absolutely certain that for the passing of the hour, there would be no plausible way he could be taken from her.

"Let me." Leo mumbled against her lips, gently closing his hands around hers and guiding them away from the belt. Far past speech, she roughly slapped his hands away in response, and finally successfully jerked the clasp free. She was working on his button in an equally frenzied manner when she felt Leo stiffen beneath her and swiftly yank her hands clear of his jeans in a much less gentle manner than he had before.

Piper frowned and nipped his bottom lip in protest as he began lifting her off his body, then she yelped – to some extent, due to the pain, but mainly from the shock - as he sharply pinched the inside of her arm.

_What the hell?!_

Her eyes flew open in fury, and it was then that she saw the flurries of blue and white light forming next to the abandoned side of the bed. Understanding dawned on her as he shot her a look that was half apology, half sympathy, and she scrambled off his body and tugged her bra back down over her breasts but an instant before the orbs coalesced into the form of her youngest son.

"Chris? What's wrong honey?" Piper asked, ignoring the burning in her face which indicated she was most likely a rather unattractive shade of red.

Chris merely held up his arms, and Piper accommodatingly lifted him onto the mattress. She settled him on her lap, but the instant her arms were no longer holding him in place, Chris clambered across the bed to Leo.

The paralyzing anxiety that had so recently consumed her ebbed slightly; the kids were the quickest way to relieve it, next to Leo. It was tempting to let Chris's entrance slide, but the rational voice within her, the one she often wished she could smother, forced her to remember that structure was all the more important when their lives were in chaos. She couldn't treat him differently because she was afraid for him. Even if all she wanted was to pull him into her lap and hold him there, protected, forever.

Fairly certain, based on her son's calm features, that there was no pressing crisis at hand, Piper scooted over to her husband and little boy, running a hand tenderly through his dark locks. "Sweetie, what's the rule for orbing into mommy and daddy's room when the door's closed?"

Chris ducked his head and placed a finger in his mouth, "I don't know."

"Chris…" The warning tone came simultaneously from both parents, and Chris turned his big, green, pleading eyes in his father's direction, having already learned that when it came to bending house rules, Leo was a better bet than Piper.

"Not this time, buddy." Leo said, shaking his head, "You need to answer your mother when she speaks to you. When are you allowed to orb in without permission?" He prodded gently.

"When it's a 'mergency."

"That's right." Piper nodded, "And is it an emergency right now?"

"No mommy."

"So do you think you can orb into the hallway, and practice knocking on the door, the way you're supposed to?" Leo enquired.

Chris scowled, but knew better than to protest, and he orbed out of the room without challenge.

Piper let her head thump against the headboard and closed her eyes, trying to slow her still-racing heartbeat. Her concentration was broken by Leo, who began speaking before his son even had a chance to reform outside the door.

"Piper, I am _so_ sorry. I didn't mean to pinch you so hard… I didn't mean to pinch you _at all_ actually but then you didn't stop when I stopped and you wouldn't keep your hands still and it was really hard to think, and I tried to push you off as gently as I could, but then you _bit _me…" his voice trailed off and he frowned as he remembered that particular snippet of information.

"So not the time, Leo." Piper cautioned as the soft knocking came from the hallway.

"Are you mad? You seem mad."

"I'm not mad! For God's sakes Leo, I certainly didn't appreciate it, but I'd say not scarring our son for life sort of ranks higher than my issues with being assaulted."

"Assaulted?!" He repeated incredulously, "You bit me!"

"We don't have time for this." She dismissed, her lack of concern accented by a wave of her hand.

Before he could voice further objections, a new cycle of knocking began on the door. Chris, with the patience of his mother, had abandoned his soft knock in favour of pounding the heavy divider with as much fervour as he could muster. "Mom? Dad? Can I come in yet?"

Piper slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom. "You let him in… I'm getting ready for bed."

* * *

She lay beneath the comforter, wide awake as her husband and son slumbered peacefully beside her. Chris was sprawled out on his back, taking up more of the space than the two adults, as children were apt to do. He gripped her index finger in one hand and a fistful of Leo's shirt in the other, and Piper couldn't refrain from brushing a soft kiss across his silken baby skin.

Wyatt talked in his sleep; he had done so practically since his first words. It didn't seem to have any adverse effects on his rest, and Leo had convinced Piper, ever the worrier, to leave well enough alone. When the boys were younger, Chris hadn't been able to simply ignore it the way he had been advised to do, and he had believed that if his brother was the one keeping him awake, it was perfectly fair for him to keep Wyatt awake as well. Piper and Leo, in the beginning, had been startled out of their bed more than once to the sound of their children screaming, and had raced into the boys' room, hearts in their throats, only to find not demons, but Chris, crying mainly because he was so tired, and Wyatt, crying because Chris had so unkindly shaken him from his sleep.

Piper had sympathized; Phoebe had always been a sleep talker as well, and growing up Piper had learned a lot more about her sister than she was comfortable knowing during the years they had been forced to share a room. Although the boys were younger than she had planned, after talking it over with Leo, the two of them suggested moving Chris into a room of his own.

What they had believed to be a reasonable solution turned out to be a federal disaster; both boys had cried hysterically, believing it was a punishment rather than an attempt to make both their lives easier. The reaction was so opposite what Piper and Leo had been expecting, for a few moments they had only been able to stare at each other, dumbfounded, as both boys began talking loudly over one another; Wyatt declaring he was going to stop talking in his sleep, while Chris swore he would never again, never ever never, awaken his brother on purpose.

Although they had done their best to assure Wyatt and Chris that they were not being punished, both had been inconsolable until Piper promised them they would never have to separate before they were ready.

The late night tantrums had ceased long ago, and Chris, older now, and accustomed to the background noise, usually drifted to sleep easily and remained so until morning. Occasionally, however, Chris woke up and found it difficult to fall back asleep while listening to his brother babble. On these nights, after trying, and failing, for a considerable amount of time, he would seek the quiet of his parents' bedroom, bundled in safely between two of the strongest people in his world. Piper suspected Chris rarely waited for permission before orbing in, given the number of times she had woken up to him patting her face gently from beside the bed, but tonight was the first time it had ever posed a problem. Usually if Chris was going to wake up, it wasn't until hours after she had already fallen asleep.

Piper smiled sadly as Chris stretched, muttered something unintelligible, and rolled over onto his stomach, folding his hand underneath his body without releasing his grip on her finger. She leaned over and delicately freed herself from the now-awkward position, then stroked his shaggy hair as she continued to think. She supposed it was bad parenting, allowing him to continue to sleep in her and Leo's bed –at least, that was what Grams had informed her, oh so diplomatically on her last visit– but it wasn't as if it happened every night. And she was selfish, because she knew that soon, it wouldn't be any night at all. The day was fast approaching when she would not be able to cuddle him and hold him on her lap in the way he was willing to allow now, and when she watched him like this, small, affectionate, peaceful, she could almost convince herself that day was so far off in the distance, it wasn't even cause for concern.

She felt anger burning within herself anew as she thought back to the events of that afternoon… Chris's terrified screams, the demons escape, the length of time it took to convince him that she was right in front of him … he seemed okay for now; children were resilient, that she knew. But how long was it going to be before he started exhibiting the lasting effects this new "gift" was bound to have on him? She didn't want him to have to experience that kind of fear again. And that demon… first thing tomorrow, she would call Phoebe and Paige, and they would kill him before he could do any more damage. Then there was Leo…

Piper felt a vise clamp around her heart as she thought of her husband. Leo, who should have been more or less safe upstairs with the boys, running down the stairs after their son, and nearly getting himself killed in the process. Her hand strayed from Chris's hair to Leo's face, fingering his skin lightly, feeling its warmth, assuring herself of his vitality. She had thought she was doing better, she honestly had. Over two years had passed since the Angel of Destiny returned him, and every time she thought she improved, every time she believed the day might be in sight where she could consistently make love to her husband without fighting the urge to cry, something happened to remind her of exactly how defenceless he was, and how easily she could lose him again.

The everyday tasks were the worst; small activities between them, activities she should be able to take for granted, caused breakdowns because she lived in fear of the day the acts would no longer be commonplace. Doing the groceries, tending bar at P3, brushing her teeth while he showered… even the more stressful occurrences; dealing with the odd tantrum from Wyatt or Chris – occasionally from both of them at the same time – playing mediator when the boys fought, hating Leo when _they_ fought… she couldn't help but smile, despite her melancholic mood, when her thoughts drifted to some of their more childish rows, but she couldn't breathe when she thought about her life without him in it. When the moments crept up, it took everything she had to fight against the instant panic that rose within her.

"What are you smiling about?" Leo asked through semi closed eyelids, his voice thick with sleep.

Piper's whole body flinched as he startled her out of her reverie, and then she drew her hand back from his skin and propped her head up with her arm. "I thought you were sleeping." She accused.

"I was, until some witch wouldn't stop touching my face." He returned, amusement colouring his tone.

He was met with silence, and he opened his eyes fully to take in the weak, bittersweet smile gracing his wife's face as she stared studiously at her pillow. He recognized the signs; the aggressive desperation that took hold when they made love (or rather, _tried_ to, as so happened to be the case tonight), the sudden tears she couldn't even explain to herself, let alone him. Piper had changed a lot over the years, and yet, in some ways, she hadn't changed at all. He could almost laugh when he thought back to the shy girl she used to be; the one who had changed outfits seven hundred times because she couldn't get comfortable enough in her own skin to go to her high-school reunion. He couldn't imagine his wife taking any attitude from Missy whatever-her-last-name-was now; the woman wouldn't even know what hit her. Becoming the eldest sister had forced Piper to become more assertive, but there were other parts to her personality that she couldn't change… although Leo suspected she often wished she could. She was still the heart of the family, still all or nothing; incapable of investing only a part of herself in any given task or relationship. Still so full of love for everyone in her life, the mere thought of losing one of them devastated her.

"I'm not going anywhere." He stated softly.

She looked up then, finally meeting his eyes. "You can't promise that."

"Nothing can keep me from you Piper, nothing ever could."

"You could die. There's no coming back from that."

"I was dead when you first met me."

"That was different."

"No, baby." He insisted, "That was meant to be. Just like this. Just like whatever comes next."

I get so scared," her voice wobbled slightly, "and it's not even all the time, it's just, sometimes, every once in awhile… and it gets in my chest, and climbs into my throat, and it chokes me, and…" She sniffed, pulling herself together, composing herself in that way she was now so practiced. "Why can't I ever just stay one whole piece?"

He reached out his hand and cupped the side of her face, smiling sadly as she reflexively leaned into the touch. "There is nothing less than whole about you. Your sadness is justified… and you have come so far, even within the last couple years. I know it doesn't seem that way to you, but that's the truth. You just need to give yourself more time. There are many things you can do, Piper, instant healing isn't one of them."

She nodded, appeased, for the time being at least. With half her worries tucked firmly aside for the night, her focus fell upon Chris once more.

"The demon concerns me too, but there isn't anything you can do about it tonight. First thing tomorrow, you'll go on the offensive."

She nodded again; not at all surprised at the way he read her thoughts. Supernatural powers didn't seem to be necessary anymore for the two of them to interpret the emotions of the other.

"I love you." She whispered, settling her head on her pillow and burying herself deeper beneath the covers.

"I love you too." He murmured back.

A time passed, then the only audible sound in the room was the even breathing of the three bodies, nestled securely in the large bed. A police siren wailed in the distance, and Piper threw a protective arm over her son in time with Leo. Their hands met and intertwined in the middle; fingers drawn together like magnets, and then all was still until morning.

* * *

_If anyone is still kind of confused about Chris's power/the way it works/why it works/etc etc etc, just let me know and I'll figure something out for the next chapter to shed a little more light on the situation. I have this habit of getting ideas, and then figuring out how they should work in my head, and then assuming everyone else will somehow, through some psychic, author/reader connection, follow my thought train, haha. Apparently this is not always the case._


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**November**

Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the curtains, bathing the master bedroom of the Halliwell manor in golden rays of light. Chris slowly opened sleep-crusted eyes, and lifted a hand to pass through the dust specs now visible in the sunlit air. He turned his head to stare at first his mother, then his father, pondering which one to awaken first, when a light rapping on the bedroom door alerted him to his brother's presence in the hallway. After directing another glance at his parents – neither of whom moved in the slightest - he grinned, and scrambled off the bed as quickly as he could, his small legs dangling comically in the air for a time before he successfully dropped down off the edge.

"Hey Wy."

"Morning." Wyatt answered, yawning as he rubbed his eyes. "Whatcha doin' in here? Did I wake you up?"

Chris shook his head mutely, "I had a bad dream." He said quietly, "But don't tell mommy. I think I made her sad yesterday."

The older boy nodded his head in understanding. "I won't say anything."

"Wanna play a game?"

Wyatt shook his head, "We should wake up daddy. Mommy and Auntie Paige and Auntie Phoebe usually spend all day together after a demon comes here. Maybe daddy will take us somewhere fun."

"He's going to come back." Chris stated sombrely.

"Who? The Demon?"

Chris nodded.

"How do you know?"

"He said so."

"Doesn't matter." Wyatt said offhandedly, no recognizable trace of concern in his tone, "Mom will blast him. The only reason he's even alive is 'cause she got pushed through the wall; mom has the strongest power in the whole world."

Chris nodded his head, accepting this with little objective thought. Wyatt was almost a full two years older than him; he knew a lot more about magic. Besides, he himself had witnessed various explosions at the hand of their mother, and it was difficult to believe there could be a power greater than that.

"Ready?" Wyatt whispered, now standing by the bench in front of the large window, facing Leo's side of the bed, "On the count of three, we orb."

"No!" Chris whispered back fiercely, "Last time we did that we bumped our heads."

"Don't be such a baby." Wyatt countered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not being a baby! You cried too!"

"Well then how are we supposed to get up there? You're too little to jump."

Chris bit his lip pensively, then his eyes lit up, and he ran out of the bedroom without another word. Wyatt sighed dramatically, but he dropped his attack position and resigned himself to sitting on the window seat until his brother returned. Seconds later, Chris made his way back into the room, his body half-hidden behind the stool Piper had placed in their bathroom to make reaching the sink easier. He grunted under the weight of the awkward device, and dropped it with some effort beside Piper's side of the bed. After backing up all the way to the door, giving himself a greater running start than his brother, the two boys shared a mischievous grin, and simultaneously sprinted towards the bed.

* * *

Leo separated his lids a crack, and watched through bleary eyes as Chris opened the door to let Wyatt in. He glanced at Piper, who was, surprisingly, still sound asleep. He frowned slightly in concern, for her to sleep through the boys soft chatter like this was unusual; she must have been exhausted. His gaze rested next on the bedside alarm clock, and he rolled his eyes as he watched the digital numbers change from 6:37am to 6:38am. Another look at the boys assured him that they were content, for now, and would probably keep each other entertained for at least another hour before they became hungry.

Or so he thought.

He had just drifted back to sleep, his head filled with the familiar scent of Piper's hair, his hand resting on the soft skin of her bare stomach, when he was jerked back into consciousness by a sharp elbow – or was it a knee? – digging into his side. He let out a jagged breath, and opened his eyes to see Wyatt, grinning with a mixture of pride and pleasure before he slipped from his precarious perch on his father's ribcage and started to fall off the bed. With the reflexes of a practiced parent, Leo shot out an arm and caught his eldest son a moment before his head could crack against the night table corner.

"Careful, Wyatt." He warned, groggily.

Piper muttered a string of indecipherable curses into her pillow, and Leo tossed a giggling Wyatt in the air before dumping him in to the middle of the bed.

"What'd you say mommy?" Chris inquired as he bounced guiltlessly upon her hip.

Leo couldn't suppress his laugh, and Piper removed her face from the pillow long enough to deliver a sleepy, yet effective, glare his way.

"I said, good morning, baby."

"Morning!" he replied, with a smile so wide Piper couldn't help but smile in return. She sat upright suddenly, eliciting a shriek from Chris as she pulled him into her arms before lying back down and drawing him against her body.

"Why do you always pick on me, huh? Why is it never daddy?"

"Because I looooove you." Chris laughed cheekily.

"Is that so?" Piper laughed, tickling her son's side lightly. Through his giggles and squirming, she continued, "I think I know exactly how much you looooove me. And I think, that it would be only fair, if you showed daddy how much you love him. We don't want him to feel left out now, do we?"

"No mommy." Chris agreed.

"So, here's the plan. You go spread the love to your father, and I will go back to sleep."

Both Wyatt and Chris laughed as Piper closed her eyes and pulled the blanket over her head. A struggle ensued, with the comforter being alternatively pulled up, down, and up again.

"What?" Piper whined plaintively. "What do you want from me?"

"Pancakes." Wyatt and Chris synchronized.

"Pancakes?" Piper questioned in faux-surprise, "You don't need me for pancakes. There's pancake mix in the cupboard above the fridge. I'm sure daddy wouldn't mind helping you make them."

She shared a knowing smile with Leo as the boys proclaimed their displeasure with this idea.

"Not _those_ pancakes." Chris frowned, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"We _hate_ those pancakes." Wyatt added.

Chris turned to Leo, who was now sitting against the headboard, and crawled into his lap. "Mommy's joking, right?"

"Mommy never jokes." Leo responded with a wink. Chris smiled and cuddled against his father's chest as Wyatt climbed over Piper's body, ignoring her muffled protests and straddling her hip much like Chris had before. He restated their demands, using every emphasized word as an opportunity to bounce bossily on Piper's much abused hip. "It's _Sunday_. That means _Blueberry_ pancakes that _you_ make. We _never_ eat the gross kind on _Sunday._"

"Ugh. I give up! You win." She sighed theatrically, throwing the comforter off her head and tipping Wyatt to the mattress's centre, drawing new peals of laughter from her two boys. They exchanged high fives, satisfied with their success, as Piper sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. "Are you fine young men going to help me make these pancakes?"

She smiled softly at their eager nods, and dropped a kiss on Wyatt's blond head, "Okay then. Why don't you two start by brushing your teeth, and then you can put all the ingredients on the counter, and I will join you in ten minutes. How does that sound?"

The boys nodded, again in complete synchronization, and scuttled off the bed. Piper watched in amusement as Chris ran to the hall, then raced back in just as quickly; a sheepish expression graced his face as he picked up the plastic step stool and dragged it out of the room.

Leo laughed inwardly at the scene as well; only Piper could have a four year old so well trained in cleaning up after himself. Now that her sisters had moved out of the manor, Piper never had to tolerate any part of the house not being _just_ so. The boys were going to grow to be just as neat as she was.

"That is not funny." Piper said dryly, although her crooked smile indicated otherwise.

Leo grinned, "I didn't say anything."

"You don't have to. It's written all over your face."

She stretched and yawned, then collapsed back on the mattress in exhaustion, absently wondering how much sleep she could potentially cram in before the boys came looking for her again.

"How are you feeling today?" Leo asked cautiously.

Her mouth opened to give the, _I'm fine_ response she was so apt at delivering, but the sincerity of his expression made her pause. She longed for the days when allowing him to comfort her had been second nature. When she had allowed herself to take it for granted. When she had poured out her heart and soul to him so naturally, and it had never really occurred to her that she would one day have to go without him.

The first time, almost five years ago, he had left her willingly. And although she forgave that completely, wholeheartedly, the memory of the pain it caused lived on. As of yet, due to the string of ridiculous circumstances that followed, the initial tear still hadn't had time to fully heal. The business with the Avatars made her roll her eyes more than anything else… the miscommunications between Leo and herself that year would have been comical if it didn't piss her off so much to know their make-up process would have most likely been faster – not to mention smoother – even with Xola's murder, had the damn avatars just stayed out of her husband's head. She found it more difficult to recover every time he was ripped away from her, more difficult to settle into the same, secure place she had once dwelled. But, as Leo had mentioned during their discussion the night before, it was a process. And if she couldn't believe in herself, she would believe in him. She would trust his belief that she was, in baby steps, heading back to the person she used to be. Heading back to the person who loved, and was loved, and accepted it at that. She would believe she was getting better because he did, and because if she wasn't, she wouldn't have the courage to make her next sentence the absolute truth.

"I'm still not okay with this," she answered slowly, "but Chris seems okay, for now, and until he's not, I can be calm. Maybe you're right; maybe he is strong enough to handle this without his childhood being ruined… maybe I'm just projecting my own desire for a normal, demon free life onto our two, well adjusted little boys, who are perfectly content with their lives demons and all." She shrugged, "I really don't know. What I do know, however, is that I am very much looking forward to making breakfast with my family."

Leo grinned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"That's my girl."

* * *

"How was she doing when you left yesterday?" Phoebe asked as she unbuckled Laura's car seat and hefted it out of the car.

Paige shrugged, "I think you can guess. She wouldn't talk about it; she just nodded her head and walked out of the room."

Phoebe sighed, feeling her own insides give a bitter twist. This sucked.

"Knock knock!" She called as she pushed open the front door.

"Kitchen!"

She was immediately assaulted by her nephews, who were entirely too enthusiastic for eight o'clock in the morning.

"Hey Aunt Phoebe!"

"Morning boys. Hey Leo!"

Leo returned the greeting affectionately, and then he took the heavy car seat from Phoebe, freeing her hands so that she could remove her light jacket. He smiled as he liberated Laura from the straps of the seat and she lifted her little arms up to be held.

"How's it going pretty girl? You being good?"

She giggled wildly and shook her head as he bounced her lightly on his hip, her tiny fists firmly clenching the material of his shirt.

"Where's Piper?" Phoebe asked.

"Here's Piper!" Piper called perkily as she walked in from the hallway, "Have you guys eaten yet? I made breakfast."

Paige nudged Phoebe with her shoulder, "I told you we'd get a free meal out of this."

"I set up the table in the conservatory… I thought it would be nice to get some sun."

"Awesome. Come on boys; let's get this show on the road." Paige strolled out of the kitchen, and Wyatt and Chris eagerly trailed after her.

"Mommy." Laura demanded, stretching her arms in Phoebe's direction.

"I have been carrying you around all morning, bug." Phoebe teased, "Give me a break."

Piper smiled and took Laura out of Leo's arms, cuddling her close and breathing in her fresh, baby-powder scent.

"Are you going to take that from your mommy?" She crooned, "Huh? Stick with me, baby girl. We'll make her jealous."

"Nice!" Paige's enthusiastic exclamation flitted into the kitchen from the solarium.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, "Croissants?"

Piper gave a bemused nod of her head.

"You have to share those, Missy!" Phoebe hollered.

Piper cringed and rubbed her ear, waiting for the buzzing to pass, as Phoebe charged out of the kitchen after their sister.

"Too loud." Laura frowned.

"You'll get used to it, kiddo." Piper said dryly, "Besides, I don't know what you're complaining about; you're not exactly renowned for your quiet disposition."

The little girl laughed and grabbed a fistful of Piper's hair; a literal understanding was not in the least required in order for her to be entertained by her Aunt's bright tone.

"You think that's funny? You're a silly little monster. Don't look at me like that, you know you are."

Leo raised his coffee mug to his lips in order to hide his smile. He wouldn't bring the subject up again, not now when she was so concerned about Chris, but soon. He could be patient. Especially when he could so clearly see she was more than ready.

He was staring so intently, it completely slipped his notice when Piper suddenly halted her animated, one sided discussion with her niece and returned his gaze with suspicion.

"What?"

"Nothing." Leo replied innocently. "I'm just standing here."

"Uh huh." She crossed the short distance between them and carefully handed Laura off to him, "Don't even think about it. There isn't even a chance."

"We'll see." He sing-songed cheerfully to her retreating back.

She rolled her eyes and decided the best way to react, would be to give him no reaction at all.

Breakfast went smoothly, amicable as always. Almost. Chris and Leo fussed over Laura while Wyatt opted to concentrate on his meal, offering his cousin an indifferent glance every now and then. Chris offered Laura a chunk of his pancake, and Leo subtly intercepted it and ripped the portion in two before delivering it to the little girl's waiting hands. He was natural with her, and Piper had to admit, there was something very charming about watching Leo play with the one and a half year old girl. She knew he wasn't doing it intentionally, but his obvious contentment with his niece made her feel guilty for being so against the idea of trying for a little girl of their own. He caught her staring at him and gave a wink, then whispered in Laura's ear and helped his niece wave in her direction. Piper swallowed and turned her attention back to the bagel on her plate, trying, unsuccessfully, to put the image out of her mind.

* * *

"Okay, what is your deal?" Phoebe asked suspiciously as Piper fluttered around the attic.

"My deal is, I'd like to find the demon who is undoubtedly going to come back to finish what he started. Can we maybe focus on that please?"

"Sure." Paige replied easily, "If you can."

Piper slammed the cauldron on the table, placed her hands on her hips, and stared her sisters down. Unfazed by their older sister's bravado, and confident in the knowledge that she wouldn't blow them up – and couldn't freeze them if she tried, - Phoebe and Paige merely stared back until Piper could no longer handle the silence.

"Leo wants to have another baby." She blurted.

"What?"

Out of all the potential problems they suspected Piper may have been hiding from them, that had not landed anywhere on the list.

"And I said no, well at least, not now… not ever, actually, the way I'm feeling, but he was insistent, and I think this is going to end up being one of those oh so annoying times when he digs his heels in and actually won't just take my 'no' for a final answer! Seriously, what gets _in _to that head of his sometimes?"

"But, Piper, you love kids." Phoebe stated, confused.

"Yeah," Paige added slowly, "you always wanted to have more of them. I'm not seeing the problem."

"The problem, is that yesterday, my youngest son came into a really scary ass power; one that I would have never wanted for him. Despite how much _I_ would like another child, it is not fair to bring them into a magical world where their innocence gets snatched away from them at the age of four years old."

"Hate to be the one to break this to you Piper," Paige started in a conspirative tone, "but, I talked to Chris when I came in, and, are you ready for this? He sounded just fine."

Piper rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Phoebe.

"Phoebe, you and Coop have Laura now; can't you understand, given all you've seen happen to my two boys in the last six years, why I'm a little less than willing to put a baby into the centre of all that chaos?"

Off Phoebe's contemplative silence, Piper addressed Paige once more. "I am the oldest," she began in a voice so collected, she almost didn't recognize it as her own, "and I have no intentions of moving away from this house. Combine those two details together, and basically what you get is, there are always going to be demons coming in and out of my life. I am never going to be normal. I am going to have to settle for the occasional normal moment. And I am beginning to accept that. What I also accept, is that I cannot afford to have more children. Paige, I am so looking forward to gaining many nieces and nephews from two of the greatest sisters I could ask for, but more of my own is just not going to happen."

Silence followed Piper's passionate speech, and Paige looked out the stained glass window, her expression unreadable.

"You can't be expected to make that kind of sacrifice, Piper."

"It's not a sacrifice at all, Phoebe." Piper said sincerely, "I have been blessed with two, beautiful boys. Boys that, if you remember, I shouldn't have been able to conceive in the first place. They make me so happy; you know they do. I love the two of them, and Leo, with all my heart. I don't need more than that."

Her genuine conviction had to be written clearly across her face, because Phoebe nodded, and accepted this as well. That only left Paige, who continued to sulkily glare out the window in a manner that was reminiscent of years ago, when she had believed she was going to be forced to give up her powers because Piper and Phoebe were so determined to.

"Missy Paige?" Piper ventured cautiously, "Something you would like to share with the class?"

Paige turned her head toward her sisters, her face set like stone and her arms folded hostilely across her chest. "I think you're being a coward." She stated bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"Kind of harsh for right now, don't you think Paige?" Phoebe commented.

"Well somebody had to say it, and you didn't look like you were going to." Paige snapped unapologetically.

"Because I don't think she's saying anything unreasonable." Phoebe answered in a carefully controlled voice, taking a step forward.

"Hello? _She_, standing right here." Piper stepped in.

"I still believe that magic is a gift." Paige spoke, ignoring Phoebe completely and staring in Piper's direction. "Chris has developed one badass power; it's true, and a little scary. But being scared of the powers your kid may or may not develop doesn't make any sense. Leo's mortal now, so it's not like you're gonna have any more twice blessed running around. As for the demons? Yeah, they come here first, and that's always going to suck, but it's not like your kids aren't already used to that. And you have a kickass power of your own that is usually more than effective. When it's not, you can call us. Just like you've been doing for years now."

"It's not that simple Paige."

"But it can be."

"Why is this even bothering you so much?" Piper exclaimed, throwing up her arms in exasperation, "If you want to see more babies in this family then _you_ have them."

Phoebe released a snort of laughter, and then held her hands up in surrender when Paige briefly turned her glare her way.

"I'm not ready to have kids yet Piper; you are. Stop trying to change the subject."

Piper took a step forward, an elitist smile now gracing her lips. She was less irritated knowing she now held the power to turn the tables.

"I think you're the one trying to change the subject Paige. If you're going to take Leo's side on me, I'm going to take Henry's side on you."

"Piper, that might not be the most mature way to –

"Shut it." Piper and Paige responded simultaneously, without once allowing their eyes to stray from one another.

"Shutting it." Phoebe muttered.

"Henry's been ready to have kids since you got married. Why are you dragging your feet?" Piper taunted.

Paige glared, familiar with the way Piper always managed to take control of arguments and turn them so that she was no longer the subject. As usual, she found herself answering the question, even against her better judgement.

"I don't even know if I even want kids!" Paige responded sharply, "I don't have to have them if I don't want to; it's not like there's a law about it Piper. I'm wary on the subject of parenthood."

"Paige, wary, in that context, is just another word for scared." Piper pointed out smugly.

"We're not talking about my issues missy, we're talking about yours."

"Can we get back to the 'saving our asses from the demon' part please? Would that be too much to ask?" She snapped.

"This is why I don't come here more often. You're bossy."

"This is why I don't _invite_ you here more often. You can never keep your damn opinions to yourself!"

"Okay." Phoebe let out a forced laugh, "Corners people. Neutral corners. Paige, you check the book. Piper –

Phoebe never finished her sentence, and Piper looked up in annoyance, all prepared with a snarky, Attention Deficit Disorder quip, only to find Phoebe and Paige both frozen in place. Her eyes widened in surprise; _she_ hadn't done that. There was no way; she didn't have that kind of power. Besides, her hands had been tucked firmly within her arms.

"Hello?" She called tentatively. There was no answer, and she made her way to the window, peeking out to check if anything else was amiss.

The sound of the cars driving down the road, and the annoying birds on the telephone wire, told Piper this was not the doing of the Angel of Destiny… what reason would one of them have for showing up now anyway? She dismissed the thought with a shake of her head. She would not dwell on that. She would stay far away from giving fate any reason to throw th emback into her life. A flicker of doubt began to develop; _had_ she frozen them? Could her fingers have accidentally twitched while she had been sullenly staring at the floor during Phoebe's chiding? But that didn't make sense… she tended to blow things up accidentally when she was angry, not freeze them…

Deciding this was something she could reflect on another time – when her sisters weren't frozen – Piper meandered back to her original position. No way was she letting Paige see she had lost control. She began to raise her arms when another thought finally crossed her mind; one that, to be honest, she should have thought of long before. She couldn't freeze good witches. These couldn't be her sisters. But the way they had been fighting… no shapeshifters could have pulled that off…

"Leo!" She called automatically. When he didn't give an immediate response, she ran through the open attic door and down the stairs, "Leo?"

She slid to a halt in the conservatory doorway where Leo, Wyatt, and Chris were sprawled out on their stomachs playing some interactive game a friend had given Wyatt for his birthday the year before. Laura sat on a blanket next to Leo, contently making block towers and knocking them down.

Leo sat up quickly. "What's the matter?"

"Something's wrong with Phoebe and Paige."

"What did you do?"

Before she could formulate a response, Wyatt and Chris's eyes widened in horror, "You hurt Auntie Phoebe and Auntie Paige?" Chris gasped.

"No! No, no." Piper laughed nervously, "No injury, they're fine, I just… Leo, can I talk to you a second?"

Leo nodded, "Boys, stay here okay? Watch your cousin. You can take turns rolling for me."

"Yes daddy." They chorused, still eyeing Piper uncertainly.

He found her pacing in the parlour, just in front of the fireplace. "Piper," he started, placing a restraining hand on her arm, "What's going on?"

"Paige and I were fighting about you and I having another baby, because it was apparently gang up on Piper day, and then Phoebe jumped in and started assigning tasks and then they froze so I thought an Angel of Destiny might have been coming, but everything else was still moving and you're still here and so I thought I must have frozen them accidentally only I don't see how since my hands were crossed under my arms and they shouldn't have frozen anyway, so you need to help me find the real Phoebe and Paige and vanquish the ones that are upstairs." She took a deep breath and resumed her pacing, unable to sit still while she waited for Leo's input.

"I don't think they're shapeshifters."

"But how can they not be?"

"Honey, you said the three of you were fighting. Why you were discussing the baby thing, I don't know, but –

"Kind of not the point Leo."

"Right. Sorry. My point is, if they were shapeshifters, they wouldn't have bothered starting an argument about that. They wouldn't have known how. Besides, I've been playing with the kids since you and your sisters went up there; Chris hasn't heard anything to send him into a panic like the one he went in yesterday."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"It's probably just a minor advancement in your powers. I think you should go upstairs and try unfreezing Paige and Phoebe."

"Excuse me? A minor advancement? If I did this, it happened just by thinking. I swear Leo, there is no way I moved my hands; the last time something like this happened, I turned into a weird monster and tried to kill people. Also, I froze my sisters. I have never been able to do that. You? Yes. Henry, Coop? Also yes. But not Phoebe or Paige!"

"I don't think that's necessarily true, Piper." Leo disagreed with a shake of his head, "I think it would be more accurate to say that you haven't tried. It's been almost eleven years; your powers have grown a lot since you first got them. You shouldn't have been able to penetrate a magical forcefield, but six and a half years ago, you did it to save Tyler."

"That's not the same." Piper protested, "There was adrenaline going and we were under pressure… I couldn't have done that again."

"You could have if you had to." Leo insisted gently, "And you had only been using your powers three and a half years. You've had them over three times that long now. Imagine what you could do if you actively put your mind to it. Phoebe can force premonitions from anything she touches, and she channels the powers of others with ease. Paige doesn't need to call for things anymore in order to make them move; why is it so impossible to think the only reason they're frozen, is because you froze them?" He asked, holding her hands within his to keep her from pacing again.

"Mom!" Wyatt bellowed from the other room. Piper startled, then shrieked as the light fixture exploded above them and crashed to the floor a metre away from where they were standing.

"Still think you had nothing to do with it?" Leo questioned sarcastically.

* * *

Wyatt and Chris raced into the living room to investigate the noise, and stood with their mouths agape near the ruins of the chandelier.

"Whoa!"

"Watch your feet guys, there's glass." Piper warned automatically.

Laura let out an indignant howl from the next room, expressing her displeasure at being left alone.

"Hello?!"

"I'll grab her." Leo volunteered, stepping carefully around the shattered pieces.

"Could you grab a broom too?" Piper called plaintively before collapsing on the couch. "We so do not need this right now." She whimpered pathetically into her hands.

"Are you mad at daddy?" Chris ventured.

"No." She sighed, "I'm not mad at your dad."

"Are you mad at Auntie Paige? 'Cause it's not her fault the fridge made that mark on the floor… she was only playing 'cause we asked her to." Wyatt cut in, unnecessarily rushing to his Aunt's defense.

"No, I'm not mad at… what mark by the fridge?"

A glass candle holder atop the fireplace popped, and all three of them yelped and covered their heads.

What happened?" Leo demanded, running in with Laura balanced on his hip.

"I'm sorry!" Piper cried.

"I told you so." Wyatt snapped at Chris, "Auntie Paige said mommy wouldn't even notice but I knew she would!"

"Why are you yelling at me? I'm the one who said we should tell in the first place!"

"I'm not mad!" Piper exclaimed exasperatedly, "Not at your father, or your aunts, or anyone else! Okay?"

_Down the hall. The voices are coming from down the hall._

_Disgusting weeds. Why do humans insist on displaying them everywhere?_

_Keran goes first; stupid, primitive animal. She'll finish him off quickly. I'll learn. This time, there will be no mistakes._

Chris's heart pounded in his chest as the voice invaded his thoughts; as he saw the hallway wallpaper and the flowers on the table, and Aunt Phoebe's sparkly shoes by the door.

He took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his pants, inching his way to where Piper was sweeping the glass from the floor.

He didn't want to make her sad; not like he had yesterday, and he grasped a fistful of her jeans, trying to quietly keep the panic at bay. Daddy had told him it wasn't real, and daddy never lied. If he was sure it wasn't real, then Chris could be brave until his mom had time to kill the demon.

"Chris, honey I don't want you standing over here with all this-

She looked up from her sweeping and stopped when she took in his white knuckled grip on her leg, and the lack of colour on his petrified face. His bright eyes were locked wide, burning the luminous shade of emerald she had seen for the first time only yesterday.

Instantly on alert, she quickly scanned the room for signs of trouble.

"Chris?"

"It's happening again." He whispered anxiously.

"Are any of the demons using their powers?" she questioned, maintaining her deliberate, calm voice even as the hair on her arms stood on end, and every nerve in her body sprang to rigid attention.

Chris shook his head, "No mommy. He's just standing in the hallway watching."

"Good, baby." She said softly, resting a reassuring, albeit distracted hand on the back of his head, "You're doing really good."

She glanced at Leo as he poked the sole of Laura's tiny foot, eliciting laughter and a mispronounced plea of, "Again! Again!"

He needed to get the kids out of here before-

"No!" Chris screamed, squeezing his eyes shut tight and clapping his hand over his ears, "Not real! You're not real!"

Leo jumped up from the couch, and in one swift motion lifted Laura with one arm, and Wyatt with the other. Piper felt his eyes on her, awaiting her direction, but she ignored him and focused on prying away her son's hands.

"Chris," she said firmly, "I'm right here, okay? Do you hear me? Can you feel my hands? I need you to look at me."

He whimpered in response, but parted his eyelids slightly.

"Look at my face, baby. Look at mommy and breathe."

He obediently managed a few shallow breaths before screwing his eyes back tight and desperately trying to free his hands from his mother's grip.

"No, honey. No, I need you to listen. I'm right here. I'm going to keep holding your hands so you don't forget that, okay? I know this is scary. I know it's so scary and unfair, but you can handle this. You're so strong. I'm so proud of you, my brave little man. Tell me what you're seeing."

Chris shook his head, "No. No!"

"Try and focus on my voice, sweetheart. I know it's hard –

"Dining room!" Chris shrieked suddenly, "Mommy turn! Turn! He's coming!"

Piper released Chris's hands, briefly making eye contact with Leo before sprinting down the hall.

The room was empty when she came to a stop by the table, and she poked a cautious head into the kitchen before backing toward the conservatory. As she passed through the doors, a combat boot from the other side connected solidly with her ribs, knocking her to the floor. She rolled agilely back to her feet and stood face to face against the demon.

If she were forced to guess, she would estimate Bounty Hunter. Few bounty hunters were stupid enough to come here; she could beat this guy with her eyes closed. The demon threw an energy ball, and Piper couldn't help but smirk as she effortlessly flicked her wrist and disintegrated the sphere practically before it had a chance to leave his hand. On another day, Piper might have almost laughed; but then from the far end of the hallway, she caught the muffled scream of her youngest son. Today, today Piper wasn't laughing. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered what every second this moron spent alive in her house did to her child. She didn't have time for this; she had real problems, real demons to worry about. And this idiot was distracting her.

The furious, increased tempo of her heart she had felt yesterday upon Paige's return, the pressure that had built anew moments ago as she held her son's hands and tried to talk him through the images bombarding him, it all returned with a vengeance. Really, the demon was doing her a favour. Finally, something on which she could unleash this _thing_ inside of her without guilt or reservations.

The demon stood, sizing her up and slowly forming a larger, brighter ball as she inhaled deeply and allowed all her negative energy to rush to the surface.

Uncertainty flashed across the Bounty Hunter's features as a slow, cruel smile grew on Piper's face. She was ready. Or so she thought.

The explosion rocked the manor before she had a chance to remove her hands from her pockets. Piper found herself thrown back into the dining room, and she bounced ungracefully off the table before falling to the floor. She stood quickly and dusted off her jeans, eyes wide in surprise as she realized what she had done.

"Oops."

She walked back into the conservatory, not entirely surprised to see that all the glass had been blown out for the second time in as many days. This 'no hands' thing was going to take some adjusting. Especially when mere thinking produced fire power like that. She stood amidst the rubble with her hands on her hips as she finally found the tiny ash pile that represented the former idiot bounty hunter.

"You picked the wrong day to fuck with me pal." She muttered.

Then Leo and the children were stepping cautiously into the room.

"A'nie 'er!" Laura called happily, leaning forward in Leo's arms and stretching her tiny limbs toward her Aunt. In true Halliwell fashion, the blast hadn't fazed her in the least.

Piper allowed herself a small smile as she obligingly removed her niece from Leo's embrace, "Hello my little heartbreaker."

"Are you alright?" Leo asked.

Piper nodded, "I'm fine. It was a bounty hunter."

Leo's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "A bounty hunter did all this?" He asked incredulously.

She surveyed the damage alongside him; there was no denying that the conservatory was in worse shape now than it had been following the demon attack the day before.

"Well, not exactly." Piper admitted guiltily. "It may have been a little me… _all_ me, I guess you could say."

"_You_ did this?"

"Cool." Wyatt exclaimed, "Isn't that cool, Chris? We don't got any windows. Not even one."

"Have." Piper snapped, "We don't _have_ any windows."

Wyatt chose to ignore the correction and instead stepped to the window frame, where he curiously peeked out into the backyard.

"Hey look! The table went right through the fence!"

"Do you feel any better?" Leo smirked.

"Yeah, actually." She grinned, "I know it's a lot of work for you, replacing all this stuff, and I'll do my best to get a handle on this stupid advancement; but, like your son said… that was kinda cool."

Laura began squirming in Piper's arms, her eager hands already reaching toward the colourful, sparkling pieces of glass that littered the floor.

"Oh no you don't, Laurabug." Piper scolded, "You're going back to your playpen. We've got enough things to worry about without you cutting yourself."

Chris once again attached himself to her side and curled his fingers around her jeans. Piper handed Laura off to Leo and kneeled carefully on the floor.

"You did so well, Chris." She smiled warmly. "Thank you for helping me."

He nodded, and pointed to the pile of ash a few metres away, "Is that the one from the dining room?"

"It is. See? You're safe, I'm safe… everyone's safe."

"Piper, what the hell did you do!"

Paige's infuriated voice drifted into the room from the hall, and Piper listened as her two sisters' feet pounded down the stairs.

"I may have spoken too soon." She muttered. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten about trying to unfreeze them.

"Do you feel like protecting mommy from her sisters?" She asked Chris seriously.

The joke didn't even draw the tiniest of smiles, and she frowned in concern.

"You don't have to be scared anymore buddy, he's gone."

She tried to pull him into a hug, but to her complete surprise, he pushed away from her and moved out of reach. Before she could question him further, Phoebe and Paige entered the disaster zone.

"Whoa." They breathed together.

Piper tossed her hair out of her eyes, "Welcome to the Wiccan House of Horrors." She greeted sarcastically.

"Hi mama!" Laura called from her playpen.

"Hi bug." Phoebe answered slowly. "What happened? Where were we? Who the hell froze us?"

"Boom!" Laura shouted.

Phoebe and Paige looked to Piper, who only shrugged noncommittally.

"You heard the girl; boom."

"Piper froze you." Leo answered from across the room.

Piper turned to glare at him, and the plant on the cabinet beside him exploded.

"Enough, Piper!"

"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose, Leo!"

"Power advancement?" Phoebe murmured.

"It would seem so." Paige responded through her teeth.

"Yeah."

Wyatt bounded over to them, and Phoebe raised an eyebrow at the subdued pace at which Chris followed. Usually, he was clambering to talk over Wyatt; seeing him so quiet, so willing to allow Wyatt to do the talking for them both, was conspicuously unnatural.

"Look what mommy did." Wyatt pointed to the windows proudly.

"Thanks Wyatt." Piper quipped, resuming her work with the broom.

Paige hoisted Chris onto her hip and teasingly poked his nose, "What's up with you, little man?"

Chris shrugged, "Down please." He requested softly.

Paige frowned, but she set him on his feet anyway. He glumly walked to the couch and pulled himself onto the cushions, then lay down with his knees curled against his chest, staring unseeingly straight ahead.

"A demon made Chris cry again." Wyatt informed them softly. "Mommy blew him up, but Chris is still sad."

Phoebe closed her eyes and put a hand to her temple, "We have to do something about this. Can't you talk to Them, Paige? They don't necessarily have to take his power away… just delay it for a few years."

"What, you think because I'm part whitelighter, they're going to listen to anything I have to say?" Paige asked, quirking an eyebrow, "No. Tried that already. Odin, pleasant guy that he is, reminded me that we all blasphemously chose to marry outside our species, and now our overcharged offspring must pay the consequences. I'm pretty sure he holds me personally responsible for the whole situation somehow; "The original half-breed," I believe, were his exact words. You're welcome, by the way."

"Nice guy, that Odin."

"Uh huh."

* * *

_Such pretty, pretty witches. So easily distracted. Lisgav will be pleased. The eldest first… perhaps the child… unless he chooses to spare him for his gift. Perhaps it can be harvested… The taller one must be dealt with swiftly as well. We can take care of the rest. Destroy one… destroy the power of three, and survive the attack._

_The boy no longer screams… what is his range? Is there a trigger? Must there be a kill thought? Do not think about dead witches. Do not think of their pale bodies, split at the middle, flesh torn from severed limbs, or flames licking the hearts of the troublesome trio which has forced the underworld to retreat far too long. Stop it. Stop it before he warns them._

_How these unfocused beings took down The Source, Zankou, it's impossible to imagine. They have luck and strong magic; skill is lacking. The young ones offer opportunity… maybe if I kill __**one **__before returning… just one… no. No thought; if the moment presents itself, simply act. The screams are becoming tiresome._

The whispering hadn't stopped since Piper vanquished the demon, and Chris was growing restless. He was trying his best not to cry, not to stir unnecessary worry in the people he loved, but he was quickly losing hope for an end. And his head hurt; it was as if he were seeing two different things at the same time, or rather, as if his mind had two images fighting to take over, and couldn't quite bring either one completely into focus.

He closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them, everything was exactly the same. He could see his mother, slowly collecting all the fallen shards of glass, see his two aunts, in the midst of an animated discussion with his father, and see Wyatt, orbing toys into a mobile for the young cousin he was – despite his best intentions – growing more and more attached to by the day. The scene changed slightly, and then he was looking at his family through eyes that were not his own, filled with dread as the voice that wasn't his increased in volume.

He had had enough.

Chris focused on Wyatt, hoping to catch his brother's attention without drawing anyone else's. Wyatt knew the answer to lots of things… he could even read a little bit. Sometimes when he focused really, really hard, Wyatt knew to come to him without him having to say a word. Chris knew this, because sometimes, he knew when Wyatt wanted him too, even if he never actually heard him call.

Chris concentrated on Wyatt as hard as he could, valiantly attempting to block out the intruder voice in his head. _It's not real._ He repeated to himself, _it's not real._

Wyatt paused, and the toys froze mid-air as he pensively tilted his head to one side. He let the soft toys fall back into the playpen and turned toward Chris with a puzzled expression on his face. Chris crooked his index finger and beckoned him closer.

"You want some company?"

"No. I need help."

Wyatt frowned, "I'll get mom."

"No!" Chris objected, grabbing Wyatt's wrist. "You're not allowed to tell, Wy."

"Well what do you want me to do then?" Wyatt grumbled, pulling his arm back.

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean! You were mean first. You hurt my arm."

"When I start going to school every day, I'm finding a new best friend." Chris glared.

"Fine. I'm sorry. What do you want?"

"Do you hear anybody that's not Auntie Paige or Auntie Phoebe or mommy or daddy or Laura?"

Wyatt listened intently for a moment before responding.

"No."

Chris sighed, "I can hear somebody else. But not like before… I just hear someone. Someone who's watching. Aren't the hallusations s'posed to go away when mommy kills the demon?"

"You sure?"

Chris nodded.

"Maybe it's another one." Wyatt chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. "'Cause you aren't screaming or seeing anything scary, right?"

"I don't know." Chris struggled to explain, "Some of it's scary, but I can see the scary parts at the same time I see the parts like right now with you… so I know that the scary parts aren't real. Yesterday it seemed real the whole time, and the last time it seemed mostly real, but then I could feel mom touching me and it made me confused."

"I think you should tell mom." Wyatt advised seriously. "She'll get the other one just like she got this one; and then you'll be just like before."

"I don't want to."

"Then tell daddy and he'll tell her for you." Wyatt insisted.

* * *

"What the hell kind of stupid bounty hunter attacks _this_ house?" Paige scoffed.

Leo shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

"I'm having a harder time accepting the whole, 'Piper can freeze us now' bit… how is that fair?" Phoebe whined, "She practically freezes Leo hourly… it's not going to be so funny anymore when it's happening to us."

"Hourly? Really?"

"No offense, Leo."

Leo rolled his eyes, "Thanks Phoebe."

"This is getting out of hand." Paige snapped. "We need a plan."

"I think someone needs to talk to Chris first." Phoebe stated.

The two boys were huddled close together on the couch, in the middle of a conversation that looked about thirty seconds away from escalating into a fistfight. Leo had been keeping a close eye on Chris since the vanquish, as had Piper, but Chris didn't seem to want their company.

Or Paiges, or Phoebe's.

As much as it killed him, they had decided to leave Chris alone until he was ready to speak with them. Leo was just happy his son was feeling at least normal enough to fight with Wyatt; it wasn't much, but it was an improvement on ten minutes ago, and Leo would take what he could get.

"I know." Leo answered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "He bounced back so quickly last night… I was hoping… I thought we would have more time to help him before he became withdrawn. I can't stand seeing him so upset."

Piper was suddenly beside him, joining the group of three and abandoning her cleaning spree for the first time since Chris rejected her attempt to hug him.

"I know we agreed to give him space Leo, but this is breaking my heart."

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, and she tossed her hair out of her eyes for the umpteenth time. "There's absolutely nothing left for me to clean. I've done all I can in this room and it's getting harder and harder not to lose my mind."

"Oh honey." Phoebe clucked sympathetically.

Piper allowed herself to be pulled into her younger sister's hug, and she rested her head gratefully atop Phoebe's shoulder. She inhaled deeply, savouring the love and comfort that – usually – enveloped her around her sisters. Then she took a deep breath and pulled away.

"Okay." She breathed, "I'll talk to Chris… explain this whole power thing to him before another demon jumps on the bandwagon. Paige, you saw the demon from last night; you take Phoebe and check the book. Leo-

"Yeah. Keep an eye on Wyatt and Laura." He smiled wistfully. "I'm on it."

* * *

"Stop poking me Wyatt!" Chris hissed, "I'm gonna tell."

"If you tell, I'm gonna tell." Wyatt returned.

Chris smacked his brother's shoulder and pushed his arm away, "I mean it, Wy."

"You two about done?" Piper interrupted.

Wyatt and Chris jerked their heads up and quickly jumped apart.

"We weren't fighting." Chris blurted.

"Yes we were." Wyatt contradicted boldly.

Piper watched her sons glare at one another, arguing a point to which she hadn't yet been made privy.

"Tell her." Wyatt insisted.

"Shut up." Chris snapped.

"Alright," she intervened, "knock it off. Chris, go put on a sweater please."

"Why?" He asked indignantly.

"Because I said so. You and I are going for a walk."

"I didn't even do anything." He grumbled, kicking the chair rebelliously as he stomped toward the hallway.

"Christopher Wesley…"

Chris cringed and froze in his tracks. He knew better than to make any unauthorized movement when he heard that tone.

Piper's face softened as she crouched down in front of him and tilted his chin up.

"I know it's been a rough day for you buddy, but that's not a free pass for bad behaviour, okay?"

Chris nodded mutely, refusing to look her in the eye.

"Use your words, please."

"Yes mommy." He corrected.

"There's my good boy." She kissed his forehead and gave him a light push forward. "Go get that sweater."

* * *

Silence. That was the glorious gift bestowed upon his ringing ears the moment Piper shut the front door behind them. The only voice he could hear was his own. He took a moment to listen carefully; to see if it was really possible to have reached the end of the second voice he had feared would permanently reside inside his head.

Cars. He heard cars. He heard the dog down the street that mommy had once told him he couldn't take home. He heard her quiet breathing, heard his _own_ breathing, and he listened to the reassuring thump of his heart.

He glanced up at Piper and grinned, conveying an emotion that could only be interpreted as unadulterated bliss. It was a smile reserved for the free and light of heart, and for the first time since the demon appeared in the hallway, he was both.

"Can I ride my bike, mom?" He asked excitedly.

Piper looked at his eyes, alight with happiness, and gave him a puzzled smile.

"Sure, sweetie."

There was no trace of the sullen little boy she had all but shoved out of the house; it was as if a switch had been flipped. Not that she was complaining; oh no. This was one gift horse she would _never_ look in the mouth.

She hitched the oversized beach bag she had packed at the last minute a little higher on her shoulder. There had been more than enough time for her to put together the mini-picnic contents while Chris had been dragging his feet getting ready. He was her chatty, bubbly, curious son again, and they hadn't even made it to the end of the driveway.

"Chris, be careful."

"I'm being careful, mom."

"Don't cross without me."

I'm not!"

The six blocks to the large park were uneventful, save for Chris's frequent stops to show her the ants crawling over melted ice-cream on the street, the block of sidewalk cement that was not-quite-solid, and the million and one things in between.

_How fast is lightning fast?_

_When can I get a big-kid bike?_

_How much longer 'til I can sit in the car without a seat, like Wyatt?_

_Why do people need to breathe?_

The questions were as endless as his energy, and by the time Chris had raced around the park perimeter a few times, and they had settled in a remote corner on the blanket Piper had packed, she was both exhausted, and completely content.

It took her a full ten minutes to work up the nerve to broach the demon subject. Just imagining Chris's crestfallen expression was enough to make her pause time and time again.

"Chris?" She finally ventured.

"Yes mommy?"

"Do you remember when daddy and I talked to you and Wyatt about your powers… about the way your powers would grow as you grow? And about how you might even get new powers?"

Chris nodded, but it was obvious his attention was more with his chocolate chip cookie than it was with her.

"Okay. Do you remember when I told you that, when I first started using magic, I could only freeze things?"

Chris nodded again, "You couldn't blow stuff up 'til later."

"That's right. But do you want to hear something else?"

He swallowed the rest of his cookie, and the promise of what sounded like a secret finally shifted his full attention to his mother. He climbed into Piper's lap, burying himself in her pullover and chewing on the drawstring of his own hoodie.

Piper patiently waited for him to get comfortable in what she recognized as his "story mode." When he stopped shifting against her body, she wrapped her arms around him and gently removed the drawstring from his mouth.

"I really, really didn't want my explosion power when I first got it. In fact, I told your dad to orb up to the Elders and ask them to take it back."

"Really?" Chris giggled. "Did he do it?"

"Nope." Piper replied, running her fingers through his soft, dark hair. "It made me pretty mad at him. And you know what sometimes happens when mommy gets really, really mad." She sighed.

"Stuff gets blowed up." Chris laughed.

"Exactly."

"Why didn't you want it?" he asked. "It's the best power ever."

"Because a new power can be scary until you learn how to use it properly; until it stops controlling you, and you figure out a way to keep control of it. Do you understand?"

Chris frowned and shook his head.

"That's okay." Piper reassured, cradling him closer. "Mommy's fault. Your dad has always been better at explaining things than I am. I should have brought him with me. Okay, let's try this again. When my powers advanced, I spent weeks being afraid. I couldn't stop things from exploding around me, and I was scared that I might blow up either your dad, or one of my sisters. I was scared to be around people, and scared to be by myself, and I just wanted it to disappear so that things could go back to the way they were before. But your daddy – he's amazing, your dad is – he made it a little better for me. Just like we'll both do our best to do for you and Wyatt. And it took me a long time, and it was really hard for awhile, but with lots and lots of practice, I learned how to use my second power just as well as my first."

Chris suddenly pulled away from her and stared in suspicion, "Are we gonna talk about the hallusations?"

"That's what I need to tell you honey. You're not hallucinating. I know that's what we told you, but we were wrong, baby."

"So a demon didn't do it?"

"Not exactly. What's happening is, you're seeing inside the demons' minds. You're hearing what they're thinking. It's not a hallucination; when you see one of us get hurt, you're seeing what the demon is planning on doing before he has a chance to do it. It's a new power."

"You mean I'm going to hear them forever?" Chris asked forlornly, thinking back to the manor, and the chaos that had been his thoughts before they left.

Piper closed her eyes and hugged him tighter, "Yes." She whispered. "But it will get easier; I promise, buddy. You're so smart, and so quick, you'll be just fine in no time, okay? It's going to be very hard for a little while, but you come find me… or daddy, or Paige, or Phoebe, or Coop, or even Henry… whenever you hear a voice that doesn't belong. We'll help you. You have so many people who love you buddy, and we all just want you to be okay. Happy, and okay."

"I don't want it." He said softly, and Piper swallowed painfully as she felt the quiver in his body and voice alike.

"I know. And it's not fair. But you're already handling it so well; like today, when you told me that it was happening again, even though you were scared. And then after that, when you knew he was planning on hurting us and you were _really_ scared, you still heard my voice. You still helped me figure out where he was. Daddy told me that yesterday, you couldn't hear him at all. You're slowly finding a little bit of control over it, and it's only been one day. And the older you get, the easier it will be for you to know exactly what's real, and what hasn't happened yet."

"Like Aunt Phoebe?"

"Just like Aunt Phoebe. She knows how scary seeing the future is sometimes… and it's a little bit different from the way your power works, but if you have any questions for her, just ask."

Chris sat in silence for a minute, processing her words and fiddling absently with the rings on her finger.

"Do you think I can learn to use it like you use your power? Like, do you think I'll be glad I have it later?"

Piper's heart swelled at the pure trust written in her son's eyes. He had so much absolute faith in her opinion, and for the first time since this whole mess started, she knew, with unshakeable certainty, that Chris would be okay.

"I know you will." She answered forcefully. "In a few months, this will come as easily to you as your telekinesis does now. And in a few more months, you won't even be a little bit scared anymore when it happens. Then a few years after that, you'll be the one protecting _Wyatt_ just as often as he protects you." She tapped his nose.

Chris giggled at the perceived absurdity of protecting his older brother. Then, after a slight pause, his face turned serious.

"Mommy?" he whispered so softly, Piper had to lean in even closer to hear him, despite his already being inches from her face.

"Yes baby?"

"I have something to tell you. Wyatt tried to make me before, but I didn't want to make you sad."

"Chris," Piper sighed, "you can always tell me anything. You are one of the best things to ever happen to me; you've never made me sad. Sometimes I seem upset because you're upset, and I want to make you feel better, but always tell me when something's bothering you, okay? Or tell daddy. Tell a grown-up. It's what you have us for."

"Okay."

"You're so brave." Piper murmured, stroking his hair.

They sat in silence for a full three minutes, Piper playing with his hair, Chris playing with her sweater, before he spoke again.

"I'm ready to tell you now."

"Go ahead, sweetheart."

"If I can hear demons, then I think there was another one at home. One that was still there when we left."

"What?"

Chris flinched at her sharp tone, and she quickly rephrased her question in a softer, less obviously frantic manner.

"You heard another voice?"

"I couldn't tell before; I heard one kind of quietly, and then the one you blowed up was really loud, and then when he was gone the other one was in my head again. He didn't leave… he was still watching and talking to me."

"What was he saying?"

"I think he was talking about me. He heard me crying. He said I'm telephonic, and that he needs to talk to lizgaff. What's 'telephonic' mean?"

The cold fear crept up her spine, and it took everything she had to keep her tone light. _Shit. Shit shit shit._

"Oh honey, I really wish you had said something earlier."

Piper gently moved him off her lap and began swiftly, efficiently packing everything away.

"You told me it wasn't real! I thought it was s'posed to go away by itself!"

"I know sweetie; I'm sorry. I'm not blaming you." Piper comforted absently as she stood up and grabbed the bike handlebars with one hand, and Chris's hand with the other. She pulled him into the nearby trees; away from the view of the joggers, parents and children inhabiting the park.

"Ow, mommy, let go."

"Sorry baby. Paige!" She called loudly.

"I wanna ride around some more."

"We don't have time, Chris. Paige!" she repeated, her voice laced with impatience.

The familiar tinkling noise accompanied the bright lights as Paige appeared beside her.

"Orb us home. Now."

* * *

_**A/N: **I realize that this chapter was a long one, and I threw a lot of different things at you within it, but I was reluctant to cut it down; everytime I tried to (and try, I did) I felt like it caused an awkward interference with the next chapter... it's sort of an in-between more than anything else, setting the scene for what's to come. I swear on pain of death and dismemberment that this will be the first and last time it happens. Hopefully you were still able to find it semi-enjoyable. I have to move back to the hellhole some people refere to as school on Saturday, so there might not be another update for a week and a half or so... but feel free to tell me your thoughts! I love hearing them. Thanks for continuing to read! Like I said; I promise to make this hyper-long chapter a one time deal. CharmingKelsey16; I guess I didn't quite succeed in kicking its ass... but while it may have won the battle, I will win the war :P ._


	5. Chapter 5

Hey there! I wrote most of the chapter during my ten hour car ride to school (gross), and I found myself with a few spare hours on my hands today (translation; I made the executive decision to not get caught up on my reading), so I figured I might as well put it up. I hope you guys enjoy it! Your reviews are encouraging, and always a pleasure to read, so thanks. Ps; Honey, you'll be pleased with the lack of baby-talk this chapter... I know the last one must have all but killed you ;) .

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Thirteen paces to the corridor. Ten paces to the lime deposits on the slick, stone wall. Eight paces to the fire. Nine paces back to the centre of the room.

Thirteen paces to the corridor. Ten paces to the lime deposits on the slick, stone wall. Eight paces to the fire. Nine paces back to the centre of the room.

Thirteen paces to the corridor-

At last, Tallis returned. Lisgav smiled and hoped, for Tallis's sake, that he had been more successful than his predecessor.

"Lisgav." The demon nodded respectfully.

Lisgav appreciated the action. Under the direction of the Source, the underworld had been organized. There had been a hierarchy, and no one had questioned it. Respect; it seemed to be a thing of the past. With Belthazor's betrayal and the Source's subsequent vanquish, nothing had ever been the same. Six years ago, no lesser demon would have dared to stray from an order the way whatever-his-name-was had.

"Keran?" Lisgav asked.

"Vanquished, as you predicted. I stayed hidden and observed."

"So they were unaware of your presence?"

Tallis shifted uncomfortably, and Lisgav gave an inward sigh. He had apparently thought too highly of Tallis, too soon. It was unfortunate; he had grown somewhat attached to the idea of Tallis as a right hand. He flexed his fingers and prepared to borrow Tallis's power.

Tallis took a step backward and raised his hands, "You misunderstand."

Lisgav raised a hand, and the flesh on Tallis's arm began slowly curdling backward. He screamed in agony, and Lisgav dropped his arm, arresting the assault as quickly as he had began it.

"That was a warning. Don't ever tell me what I have or have not understood."

Tallis stood straight and placed his injured arm behind his back.

"My apologies, Lisgav."

Lisgav stepped back and peered at the demon keenly. There had been no begging, no cursing… he had taken the attack like a soldier; perhaps that warranted a few more seconds of life.

"Explain yourself."

"The boy. They didn't see me, but it's possible that the boy heard me."

"And he didn't alert anyone?"

"He was distracted by Keran. He knew Keran's plan of attack before Keran even exposed himself; he reads thoughts."

"He reads thoughts?" Lisgav could not keep the incredulity out of his tone, "Twice-blessed, the bearer of Excalibur, _and_ a telepath?"

Tallis shook his head, "No sir, the other boy. The youngest one."

He shook his head, "Remarkable."

"I feel it may be a new power; the boy didn't appear capable of controlling it, and his screaming sent the others into a panic."

"Is it possible he told them of you as well?"

"It's possible." Tallis admitted reluctantly.

Lisgav smiled; yes, he had indeed found his right hand demon. This new power would work in their favour. After he killed the Charmed Ones, he could kill the children as well and harvest their extensive gifts.

Then an idea slowly began to form… one that made his previous plan of action entirely negligible. Not only would he kill the Charmed Ones, not only would he slaughter their children, but the eldest witch would help him do it. As a human, as a mother, it would only be a matter of time, given the right influence. Given _his_ influence.

"Gather the Tracers, the Kazis, the Tryvsis, and a handful of Bounty Hunters to keep them in line. I require expendable forces."

"Yes, Lisgav."

"And Tallis?"

The demon turned back expectantly and awaited instruction.

"Work quickly. Our success is now dependent on manipulating the witches before the child learns to control his gift."

"With all due respect, how are we going to attack the witches when the boy screams murder from the very moment he sees a threatening thought?"

Lisgav offered him a tolerant smile. "Exactly."

* * *

_Stupid. How could I be so stupid?_

The self abuse raged on in Piper's head as she reformed in the attic with her sister and son. Chris told her a demon was plotting to expose his power to all the underworld, and the first thing she did was bring him right back to where the demon was possibly _still_ hiding. He had just regained the happy disposition she had, quite frankly, feared dead, and here she was, bringing him back for childhood trauma round three. She was the world's worst parent.

She cringed as she looked at Chris; anxiously awaiting the telltale screaming that would alert them all to the demon's continued presence.

"Wy, that's _my _transformer." Chris frowned, "You have your own."

Wyatt looked up from his seat on the carpet, where he had been running the fire truck back and forth.

"You weren't even here." He scoffed. "I'm using it."

Piper relaxed. Slightly. The house was clearly a demon free zone at the moment.

"How about you two go play downstairs for awhile?" She asked with a forced smile.

"I don't feel like it, mom." Wyatt answered absently as Chris took a seat beside him on the carpet.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I didn't ask you whether or not you felt like it, hmm?" Piper said expectantly.

Wyatt sighed, but wisely decided against voicing his discontent. The two boys gathered the toys scattered across the rug and headed out of the room.

"Try to keep it down, guys." Leo added. "Laura's sleeping."

They nodded their heads, already engrossed in an animated discussion concerning the pros to having a "real" transformer at their disposal. Piper absently prayed neither child – Wyatt, in particular – would take it upon himself to bring the toy to life and test the theories.

Piper's genuine smile lasted a full three seconds; then the door was shut, the boys were gone, and the welcome moment of normalcy vanished as the reality of the solemn situation came rushing back.

"There were _two_ demons in here earlier; the other one did all the spying while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off."

"What?" Paige spat, "You've got to be kidding me."

"This blows." Phoebe muttered as she collapsed on the sofa.

"Oh, it gets better." Piper continued with faux cheer, "Chris heard him thinking about his power. About reporting it to his demon boss."

"What?!" Phoebe exclaimed, "Okay, I thought we were done with this organised attack stuff. What the hell Leo? We've fulfilled our destiny not once, but twice. Wasn't all this supposed to end with the whole, defeating the ultimate power thing? Did we miss a memo?"

"You can never defeat evil, Phoebe." Leo responded patiently, repeating what had been said many times before, but somehow, always needed restating in their hours of greatest frustration. "Evil will continue to try and gain the upper hand; you three have drastically tipped the scales in favour of good… the underworld is going to be scrambling for years, there's no doubt about that, but demons are going to continue testing the waters, questioning your strength; grasping at any sign of weakness that can be exploited in a desperate attempt to turn the tables."

Piper stomped over to the pedestal and began roughly flipping through the book of shadows.

"Chris mentioned the name of the boss… whoever it is, their name sounds like 'Lizgaff'. I say we find him, summon him, and teach his followers a lesson by vanquishing his sorry ass."

"Agreed." Paige said grimly, approaching Piper and reading over her shoulder.

"Let's do this." Phoebe added.

Leo watched the girls intently from his perch on the bar stool, and smiled in spite of himself and the gravity of the situation. The three sisters, despite possessing well established individual lives, hadn't sunk into the awkward detachment Piper had feared they would with the combination of three separate addresses, and an absence of demons.

Ten years ago, separating the Charmed Ones would have been risky, but even as Piper had confided in him her belief that they were drifting apart, he had kept faith that despite the road bumps, the girls would find each other once again. Their behaviour, as he had gathered from Piper, Phoebe and Paige's accounts of events during his absence, had been entirely out of character. They had lost sight of the fact that they functioned best as a team, and the Power of Three had suffered for it. Piper and Phoebe, in particular, had almost fallen apart.

Piper; functionally heartbroken, obsessed with drawing out the Ultimate Power in order to secure his return, and determined to be both parents to their children.

Phoebe; obsessed with the future-daughter she felt slipping away from her with every passing minute.

Their passive, and not so passive, attacks on one another had forced Paige into the role of the neutral sibling, and left her the ill-desired job of fighting to keep the shambled remains of their once tight-knit family together while she simultaneously continued her struggle to find a life independent of her sisters.

He was glad to see they had found their way back from that place; of course, the downside to their little trio, was that he often – if not always – found himself outvoted by their occasionally irrational, emotionally driven plans of action. On this particular evening, Leo was once again forced to start a new round in the eternal losing battle against the Power of Three in full form.

"Got it." Piper said, slamming her index finger against the page before her.

Phoebe and Paige crowded closer as Piper skimmed the entry.

"Lisgav. Upper level demon, banished centuries ago by the source, yadda yadda yadda, Phoebe, you start on the summoning spell. Paige and I will get started on the potion. We'll meet back up here in half an hour for the slice-and-dice."

"A regular spell and potion should be more than enough to suffice, shouldn't it Piper?" asked Phoebe. "I mean, it's not like we're new to this. You can make the potion strong enough to vanquish half of California without the demon flesh."

"I don't want to take any chances." Piper shook her head, "We're doing this once. No mistakes. Besides, we're trying to send a message, right? Sending the 'leader' to hell the day after he surfaces tends to get the point across."

Paige tilted her head, then, after a beat, nodded her agreement. "True true. Alright missy, let's roll."

"You're kidding." Leo interrupted. "You can't just summon him without understanding what he is; what he can do. The Source banished him; that should mean something to you. It should at least be enough to warrant reading the entire entry."

"Leo, we know what we're doing." Phoebe said gently.

"And I'm not questioning that. I'm just saying... demons don't just get banished without reason."

"Sure they do," Piper dismissed. "It says banished, not imprisoned, and he wasn't killed. So, while we can assume he pissed the Source off, he wasn't powerful enough to be a serious threat. Just look at the vampires. Are we done talking about this yet?"

"No." Leo snapped.

"Ugh. It's always the same, Leo." Paige said with an indifferent wave of her hand. "Demon conspires against the Source, it comes back to bite him in the ass, he feels like he has something to prove, he goes up against the Charmed Ones; he dies in the process. Same story, enough variations to put a girl to sleep."

Leo shifted Phoebe from her position by the stand, currently blocking his view of the Book of Shadows, and began reading aloud.

"He's a shapeshifter. Did you read that part? No, I don't think you did; probably something you should be aware of. Or here? Where it says he can temporarily copy your powers by touching you? That's probably important. How about here? Where it says –

"I hate when you get like this." Piper muttered.

"When I get like what, Piper? Concerned for the wellbeing of my family? For the mother of my children? Which part is it exactly that you hate?"

"It's not up for discussion."

"The hell it isn't."

"This is a bit of an overreaction, don't you think?" Phoebe questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

"No, Phoebe, I don't think it is."

"We just want to finish this quickly. For Chris." She argued.

"I know you do." Leo's face softened, "But you shouldn't put your lives at unnecessary risk in the process. Be sure you know what you're up against. Try to treat this as if it were any other demon. At the very least, Paige should orb to the bridge and see if the Elders have anything valuable to add."

"Come on, Leo." Paige grimaced, "Don't make me talk to them twice in two days; I've still got Odin's obnoxious voice ringing in my ears."

"For Chris." Leo continued persuasively. "For your nephew."

"_This_ is for Chris." Piper insisted, "What we're doing, right now. We don't have time to screw around! The Elder's never know anything we don't anyway."

"She raises a good point, Leo." Phoebe interjected apologetically, "I think we should just go with it. We'll be fine; we always are."

"Name one time, one, single, time, in the last eleven years when a plan of yours – put together in roughly twenty seconds – has ended in something less than a catastrophe."

Piper halted mid-pace and whipped around to face her husband, pissed to hell and back that this conversation was still taking place. They were wasting time.

"I'm not going to stand around and wait for him to come back, Leo." She snapped tersely, "I'm not okay with watching our son die, even if you are."

The air was sucked out of the room in the wake of Piper's ill thought out choice of words, and in her anger, it took her a moment to see what had caused the sudden change in atmosphere. A second, although it seemed like much longer, passed before her face went white; eyes wide in regret and self loathing as she was hit with the full weight of her own words.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, "That wasn't what I meant. Leo, you have to know that wasn't what I meant… I would _never_…"

There was no visible trace of emotion in Leo's expression, and that perhaps scared her more than anything. Leo had an incredibly expressive face; she had always felt she could see straight into his soul through his eyes alone. This blank, stoic mask was new to her. Instead, he channelled a silent fury that Piper could recall seeing no more than two or three times before. His eyes were dark, black almost, and she could feel the rage radiating off his skin.

She took a tentative step forward, her right hand clenching and unclenching as she indecisively tottered between touching him and not touching him.

Phoebe, bless her heart, took the decision out of her hands, giving Piper a slight, barely perceptible shake of her head from where she stood, just behind Leo's line of vision. Piper was more than willing to allow Phoebe to do the talking; scattered as she sometimes was, her sister had a special way with Leo; she could calm his anxieties. She was capable of reassuring him during the rare moments his generally steady confidence faltered. When Piper antagonized, Phoebe soothed. Only her sister could have had such an effective heart to heart with Leo after breaking the news of her second pregnancy, he never once uttered, 'you should have told me,' or any other like phrase. If she couldn't reach him, Phoebe could. She had faith in that. Empathy power or not, her sister had a gift.

Phoebe placed a gentle hand on Leo's arm, attempting to initiate eye contact. "No one blames you for what happened, Leo." She said softly, "No one ever has. Piper spoke without thinking; that's all. You know her as well as I do; she as a big mouth, but she would die before intentionally hurting anyone she loves. Our tempers were all running a little high… let's just take a second."

Her insistent tug on his hand, guiding him over to the couch, broke through Leo's trance. Without once taking his eyes away from Piper, he pulled his hand back from Phoebe's and stepped around the middle Halliwell. His steps fell heavily on the wood floor as he stalked across the room to where Piper was standing.

"Excuse us." He growled.

He didn't break his stride as he walked past her, grabbing her wrist and dragging her behind him to the attic door.

Phoebe and Paige exchanged identical looks of concern as the solid oak portal was opened, and then slammed shut in one fluid motion.

"Piper's done it this time." Paige muttered.

"Paige." Phoebe chastised softly.

"I know I know." She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face, "I just hope he doesn't go psycho on us again like last time. We have enough to worry about."

Phoebe shook her head in disapproval. "It's been years, Paige. He's dealt with it; we all have. Piper was angry, Leo was angry, and she pushed a button. They'll be back. In the meantime, I'll work on the spell. Whether we end up using it today or not, it can't hurt to have one on hand."

Paige nodded, "Alright. Let me know if you need any help; I'm going to give Henry a call before he comes over here looking for me. I guess now would be a bad time to ask Piper if dinner's still on for tonight?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Right. I'll just leave that one on the backburner."

* * *

Piper jogged after Leo, struggling to keep up with the pace of the man possessing legs twice as long as hers. Her heel caught a crack in the floor and she stumbled, but thankfully, she caught herself before she fell. Leo glanced back at her, but he didn't pause.

His grip was unyielding; but it wasn't enough to hurt her. She wished it was. She wished it would leave ugly, mottled bruises on her wrist to remind her that there were consequences for inconsiderate comments. She could only remember feeling this terrible, this ashamed, once before, and that had to do with future-Chris as well. She wished he would squeeze until she cried, because the way things stood now, even in this moment that was arguably near the top of his most furious, he would not hurt her. He was in control enough to still care; to look back – even though he must have desperately, desperately wanted not to – to make sure she didn't fall and hurt herself. And that made it worse. If their roles had been reversed, she would not have looked back. She was spiteful, and vindictive, and he deserved better. She had crossed the line. Intentional or not, it had been careless. Thoughtless. And it shouldn't have happened.

Piper didn't like being manhandled, but as Leo pulled her through the house, she was still too shocked by her own faux pas to do more than meekly follow. Not that she could have loosened his grip-of-wonders if she tried… not without magic anyway. They still hadn't exchanged a word, and Leo briefly paused to check that the doors to the boys' room, and the room where Laura was sleeping, were both firmly shut, before pulling her into their bedroom and slamming the door behind them.

He released her arm and began pacing by the bay window, leaving Piper to stand awkwardly by the door, beside the dresser. She watched him go back and forth… from the nightstand, to the closet, to the nightstand, to the closet, to the nightstand, to the closet. He hadn't made eye contact with her once since the attic… although to be fair, she couldn't know that for sure. She had been too busy keeping her eyes on the ground like the coward she was to see what he had been doing.

At that moment, he finally stopped just beyond the foot of their bed and stared at her. She could feel his eyes burning through hers; she would have never thought it possible for someone else's gaze to hurt when it hit her skin. And then she was sure, absolutely sure, that he hadn't been watching her while she had been avoiding his eyes. Because, without question, she would have felt it.

"Do you have something you want to get off your chest, Piper?"

His voice was calm, quiet even, and not in the least bit threatening, but the coldness of his eyes made her shiver nonetheless.

"No." She shook her head firmly.

"Are you sure? Because now is the time. I don't want another four years to pass before you finally say what you're thinking."

"That's not what happened." Her voice shook, and to her disgust, she felt her eyes welling up with tears. She wasn't going to cry. She stopped hovering by the doorway and stepped forward, leaving the bed between them. "I was angry, and it just came out. I was talking about four-year-old Chris, playing across the hall. I didn't even think about…" her voice faltered, unable to speak the name with the future version in mind. The guilt over that entire situation still grabbed her at the most unexpected times… she couldn't imagine what it did to Leo.

"…I didn't. Not until after."

She took a chance and crossed the invisible line they had drawn across the bedroom, eliminating the buffer they had made out of their bed. He flinched when she touched his face and took a step backward.

"Don't."

She jerked her hand back as if she had been scalded, and the window pane behind him disintegrated. They swore simultaneously as they protected their faces from the flying glass.

"Piper." Leo warned impatiently.

"I'm sorry." She recited frantically, instinctively reaching out to touch him, only to draw her hand back again and tuck it firmly in her pocket. "I'm really, really sorry. About the window, and about what I said. But more so about what I said. I didn't mean to upset you."

Stupid magic powers. Stupid stupid stupid. She couldn't even make an apology without them getting in the way.

"It's not just that, Piper. Even if… even if he hadn't died, I would still be upset that you can stand there, and try to tell me that you're the only one looking out for our son's best interest. I love those two boys just as much as you do; I would never, ever hinder you from protecting them. And you always try to turn me into the heartless bad guy just because I don't always agree with you."

"That's not true." She protested.

Even as the words left her mouth, she wanted to grab them back. What was her problem? She had spent the last five minutes hoping to make him talk to her, and then the second he opened his mouth, she was opening hers.

Leo gave her a rueful smile despite his feelings. She really couldn't help herself; and right now, that made him torn between laughing it off and shaking her.

"Yes, you do. And it drives me crazy. You don't need to be quite so quick to throw yourself in front of the train for them; they're our kids, we would do anything to keep them safe. I get that. But I wish sacrificing yourself wasn't always your plan A. I would like to find a way to protect them that doesn't ultimately leave them without parents. Or aunts. I think they would resent us less for it in the long run."

She sighed and sat on the edge of their bed, hiding a small smile when Leo sat down on the opposite corner. At least the five foot space rule didn't seem to be in effect any more. That was something.

"I get frustrated, and then I take things out on you that I shouldn't. I say things that I shouldn't. And for that, I'm sorry." She apologized earnestly.

And suddenly, he was her Leo again; all smiles, confidence, and bright, bright compassionate eyes. She wiped a hand over her face and choked back a relieved sob when she saw the last of the tension leave his body. Her Leo. So forgiving. Such a pain in the ass. All hers.

And then the fear was back. The clammy hands, the accelerated heart beat. He could be taken away at any time, and then this, this, right here, would never be again. And she hadn't been paying attention. She hadn't been actively filing every moment, every word, every inflection for when it happened. He was going to go away, and she was going to forget.

"I'm sorry." She repeated. She swallowed hard, trying not to panic. Trying not to throw herself into his lap and cover his face with her hands, to put her head against his chest and feel his warm skin, listen to his even heartbeat. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Leo frowned and slid over until she could feel the reassuring warmth of his thigh touching her own. "It's okay." He murmured, "Just breathe, baby. Feel my heart. I'm not going anywhere. Neither are you; we're stuck with each other."

She tried to force out a laugh, but it turned into a cough. And then another. And another. Then the crying continued. He rubbed her back and waited for it to pass, the way it always did.

It was then that they both heard the mild scratching from the other side of the door. At first, Leo wasn't sure the sound was anything more than the shifting of the floorboards, but then he heard it again. A little more persistently. Piper lifted her eyes and gave a puzzled tilt of her head.

"_They locked the door!"_

"_What?!"_

The voices were indignant, and Leo couldn't help but chuckle, "Sounds like your kids are trying to come to your rescue."

Piper gave a watery giggle, "I think you have that backwards. They probably heard the glass break… they're worried I finally flipped and blew up daddy."

Outside, the voices continued.

"_I said it's locked, Chris."_

"_So? Unlock it."_

"_You can't unlock a door when it's locked, stupid."_

"_Oh yeah? Then how come daddy did when I got locked in the bathroom?"_

"_Because he's dad. Maybe we should just orb…"_

"Don't you even think about it!" Piper shouted.

She would never remember which happened first; the air, rushing loud and fast through her ears like from atop a high building, or the blinding white light that went off behind her eyes when something hard fell on top of her.

What she would remember, was Leo's body, stretched out on the floor. Still. Blurry, no matter how many times she blinked. She would remember thinking that, yes, it had finally happened again. Just as she had always known it would. There was blood, but whether it was his blood, or her blood, was to be determined. And then there was darkness.

* * *

Henry let loose a string of curses as the cream sauce on the stove promptly burst into flame. He couldn't cook any better than Paige could… he didn't know why trying had seemed like such a good idea today. He took one last disgusted look at the hardened black mess that had formed on the top… then he poked at it hopefully with the wooden spoon, on the off chance that the portion at the bottom proved to be salvageable. He took a tentative taste, grimaced, and chucked the spoon, along with the pot, into the sink; congealing contents and all.

Fuck it. They could order pizza.

The phone rang, and he wiped his hands clean on his pants before grabbing the receiver off the counter.

"Yeah?"

"Hey lover."

He smiled when he heard Paige's ever-coquettish voice on the other end of the line. The smile only grew bigger when he heard Phoebe voice her disgust in the background.

"Hey hon. What's up?"

"Just calling to fill you in on the _epic _drama that is currently occurring in this house."

"Oh yeah?" he laughed, "Has Piper accidentally blown up any Elders?"

He paused for a moment; he was getting a better handle on magical terms and beings, but he wasn't sure if wishing the force of Piper's power on another being – Elder or not – was crossing a line of sorts.

"It's okay for me to find that funny, right? I mean, it's not like she can kill them."

"Oh, totally. And funny as that would be? Unfortunately no. Her powers going berserk would be hilarious, especially since I don't live here anymore and am no longer required to help with any cleanup, but it's sort of holding us back in the 'dealing with our bigger issues' department."

"Making any progress?" he asked as he headed for the living room, where he fell into the couch cushions and flipped on the sports channel.

"Not so much." he could practically feel her eyes rolling, despite the distance between them. "Piper and Leo are raging war against _each other_ right now; lord knows how long that's going to take."

Before he could comment, he heard a muffled explosion in the background. "What was that?"

"I dunno. Window… door… wall." Paige answered, unfazed, "Your guess is as good as mine. The way Leo dragged her out of here, I'm a little surprised that's the first explosion we've heard. I think it's safe to say, dinner's going to be cancelled tonight."

"I, awesomely perceptive husband that I am, already anticipated that." Henry informed her smugly. "Piper's cooking it isn't, but I've got something up my sleeve."

"Pizza?"

"Pizza."

"Nice."

Then, a second explosion sounded off in his ears… much louder than the first. Pandemonium erupted on the other end before he had a chance to react, and he heard the muffled, frantic voices of Phoebe and Paige blending together as one just before the panicked screams of one of the kids; then the line went dead.

"Paige?" he spoke uselessly into the telephone.

"Paige?" he called loudly, this time into the air, using the more reliable, magical method of communication. After a moment of silence, he gave a frustrated growl, threw the phone carelessly to the floor, gathered his wallet and keys in record time, and headed out the door.

* * *

When the first explosion sounded, Phoebe gave a startled gasp as the floor reverberated underneath her, alerting herself and Paige to the magical activity on the level below. She exchanged a guarded look with her sister, pausing to see if anything more would follow, then she rolled her eyes and went back to her notepad as Paige resumed her conversation with Henry. She wondered why their powers only seemed to advance when the timing could not possibly be more inconvenient. It seemed as if she herself had only just gained control of her empathy powers when they advanced for the second time, and sent her right back to where she had started; cowering in her bedroom until she deemed herself "safe" to be around people. Come to think of it, a rather hard to kill demon had been disrupting their lives at that point too… maybe there _was_ some kind of memo that went out; no demon could be that lucky.

She could recognize both Piper and Leo's points as valid, and being unintentionally thrust in between them once again made her think – not for the first time – that it had to all be part of some cosmic balance, avenging Piper for the twenty five years she spent playing the go-between.

Her curiosity overwhelmed her, and she couldn't help taking a moment to focus on her sister and brother-in-law; she respected their privacy, and she had no intention of reading them too deeply, but a tiny peek might let her know how close they were to resolving Piper's admittedly insensitive mistake.

She sensed remorse and guilt; that was clearly Piper. There was an underlying vibe of distress, panic was probably a better word, but Phoebe shook her head and closed off the window. _Focus_. She told herself sternly. _You can be nosy later._

When she focused on Leo, she felt the warm, all encompassing love flowing through her that so often came off of him around Piper, and she was satisfied that she wouldn't have to play referee today. Not at this moment anyway. Who knew what would happen five minutes from now.

Her heart leapt into her throat when the entire manor literally shook with the power from the second explosion; _Laura._

"What the hell?"

"I don't know!"

Their movements were completely in sync, something all three sisters took for granted. They could all but read each others' thoughts, especially when it came to instant, reflexive reactions to danger. One of the boys was screaming, although amidst the sound of the falling debris, even their aunts couldn't be sure which one. They were downstairs in a split second, thanks to Paige, and Phoebe coughed and waved a hand through the air in vain, trying to clear some of the dust.

"Mama!"

Phoebe breathed a sigh of relief; she couldn't see her, but at least she could tell from the sound of her voice that Laura wasn't hurt in any way.

"Stay where you are baby, we're coming!"

"Auntie Phoebe?"

That was Chris. Although his voice was just as distorted as Laura's. "Where are you, honey?"

She felt a tiny hand grip her pant leg, and she crouched down and placed a comforting hand where she guessed his back would be. "Are you hurt?"

Chris shook his head, forgetting Phoebe couldn't see him any better than he could see her.

"Chris?" she repeated.

"I'm fine. Wyatt's stuck."

"Stuck where, sweetie?"

"Here." Paige answered, resigned. The smoke began to clear, and Phoebe saw the vague outline of her nephew pinned beneath a partial chunk of a bedroom door.

"Get me out!" he cried indignantly, his tiny voice smothered by the piece of wood resting on top of him.

Phoebe smirked, at least he wasn't injured.

The door came off Wyatt's small frame in a shower of orbs, then clattered harmlessly to the ground a few feet down the hall. Paige carefully set him on his feet and looked him over critically. "You alright little dude? Cuts? Bruises? Missing limbs? Blindness?"

Wyatt giggled and shook his head.

"That was better than flying!" Chris observed, "My tummy went funny… that doesn't happen when we orb."

Wyatt nodded his agreement, and Paige rolled her eyes. "I don't know what we're going to do with the two of you."

"Mom!" Laura's voice echoed loud and clear through the hallway; she had inherited her mother's lungs.

"Sorry honey, I'm coming."

Paige sighed as Phoebe cautiously made her way down the hallway, and she glared in the direction of her sister's bedroom. "Piper! This is getting ridiculous!"

She frowned when no immediate reply came back to her, and she automatically warned the boys to stay put and watch their step before making her way to what remained of the master bedroom.

The bed itself seemed to be the only thing in the room to have survived, and Paige took in the shattered window, broken glass, and pieces of wood from the various dressers and night tables before her gaze came to rest on the unconscious forms of her older sister and brother-in-law. A quick assessment led her to conclude that Piper would come around on her own within a matter of minutes, and she hurriedly, almost absently, orbed the ceiling fan off her sister's body before kneeling down beside Leo and tugging at the wooden plank protruding from his back. It came free after two solid pulls, and she tossed it across the room, fighting her stomach's natural instinct to recoil from the stench of metal filling the room due to the blood.

Her hands trembled slightly as they began to glow, the way they always did when she was desperately hoping she wasn't too late to bring her loved ones back from the brink. She didn't know how Piper and Phoebe had survived the loss of a sister, because she couldn't imagine being able to bear the kind of pain that came with losing her parents all over again. Henry, Wyatt, Chris, Laura, Piper, Phoebe, Leo, Coop… she needed them all.

Wyatt and Chris ambled into the room just as Leo opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

"I thought I told you guys to stay in the hall." Paige reprimanded.

Wyatt shrugged, "We wanted to see."

Chris's eyes widened as he gazed in wonder at the down feathers lazily settling on the floor. "Cool."

"No. Not cool." Paige snapped, "Don't you two go getting any ideas, okay? This is not funny."

Wyatt bounded over to Piper's position on the floor and prodded her gently with his finger, "Mom? You awake, mom?"

Piper groaned, and then sat up so quickly, she had to swallow to keep vomit at bay. "Leo."

"Right here." He assured.

"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty." Phoebe called from the doorway.

Piper pulled Wyatt into her lap and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, buddy."

"S'okay." Soon, however, he struggled to pull away from her. "Ouch, that hurts."

Piper frowned and pulled up the front of her son's shirt, revealing a bright red, circular blotch covering his right side.

"What happened?"

"The doorknob fell on me." Wyatt complained.

Piper looked to Paige, who immediately stretched out a hand to her nephew and awaited the healing light. He squirmed against Piper, restless, and unwilling to wait for Paige to finish.

"Sit still, Wyatt." Piper commanded shortly.

"But –

"What did I just say?"

Wyatt dutifully closed his mouth and silently – impatiently – watched as the bruises faded away into oblivion. When Paige removed her hand, Piper placed one last apologetic kiss on the top of his head, and then handed him over to Leo before abruptly standing and hurrying out of the bedroom. The struggle to bury her warring emotions had become too difficult, and so, for the sake of those she loved, she chose to leave. If she wasn't one hundred percent in control of herself, she clearly couldn't be trusted around her family; around her children. The last thing she wanted to do was blow up her son because she felt guilty about nearly blowing up her son.

* * *

"Piper, come on." Leo called softly.

She lifted her head and stared at the bathroom door, picturing Leo leaning against the other side. It was hard, so hard for her to resist that tone. Then the image changed, and Leo was no longer patiently trying to coax her to unlock the door; instead, he was cold and still on their bedroom floor, his eyes forever, lifelessly fixed on a world she couldn't see. Wyatt lay beside him.

She scrambled across the linoleum floor and yanked the seat up on the toilet, barely managing to lift the lid before she threw up. It was too much. She had injured her own son. Her perfect, blond, incorrigible, miniature Leo. The glass in the mirror above the sink moaned warningly, and she closed her eyes and breathed. There could be no more putting it off; she needed to find control before the damage she caused was too much for even Paige to fix. She was now the biggest threat to her sons – Wyatt and Chris alike – and until she could be trusted around them, demon hunting was going to have to go on hold. It looked as if Leo was going to get his way after all.

"Honey, open the door."

"Go away."

She sank back onto the cool floor, staring wearily at the sink, which seemed an impossible distance away, before gathering the strength to stand and rinse out her mouth.

"Do you want a glass of water? Some tea?"

"Leo," she replied slowly, "I'm in a bathroom. I think I'm set for water."

She avoided the mirror. She was tired of being forced to look at the person she was fast turning into; the person she feared she had already become. Instead, she dried her face on the Spider-man towel Wyatt had proudly chosen to hang in the "kids only" bathroom. She methodically wiped the stray water droplets off the counter and dropped the cloth into the hamper, and listened the whole time for Leo's receding footsteps down the hallway; they never came.

She could feel him hovering more than she could actually hear him, and while she knew he was only trying to help, his near proximity was making things worse. Even thinking about his face, his beautiful, loving, open face, made her want to cry. And even thinking about crying was causing the mirror to shake anew. Just like the first time, it was getting worse instead of better with every hour that passed, and she knew it would continue to do so until she calmed down long enough to go five minutes without shattering something.

As she looked across the cramped space she was determined to call her home – until she got her powers under control, or before she died of shame… whichever happened to come first – her gaze hesitated on the bathtub. She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully; was she _that_ desperate? Really?

She needed no time to reflect in order to admit that the answer was undoubtedly yes. She was willing to do almost anything, no matter how degrading at this point, to make herself feel like less of a hazard. With her mind made up, she sighed. This was a whole new low.

* * *

"I thought we weren't s'posed to use the locks on doors." Chris spoke up, interrupting Leo, Paige and Phoebe's huddle in the middle of the hall. "'Member when I locked the door and you had to open it dad? And mom told us not to play with them ever?"

Leo rubbed his eyes. He was way too tired and distracted to deal with this.

"Dad? Daddy, did you hear me?"

"He's trying to remember how he got you out so he can get mommy out, Chris. Stop asking questions so he can think." Wyatt said impatiently.

Chris obediently sat quietly against the wall.

"Sorry daddy." He whispered contritely.

Leo gave him a small, albeit genuine, smile. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

"I think Paige should just orb the two of us in." Phoebe proposed, bringing her brother-in-law back to the topic at hand.

Before Leo could protest, Phoebe held up a hand to silence him and continued.

"Leo, she's ashamed, and very angry with herself right now. Bad things tend to happen around Piper when she's angry even on the best of days. You are the most vulnerable part of her; she gets scared when you start backing out of the driveway without a seatbelt, and you think going in there right now is going to ease her anxiety? She'll over-think keeping control, she'll panic, and someone will get hurt. Probably you."

"No offense, Leo." Paige added as an afterthought.

"None taken."

"Take them to the park." Phoebe suggested. "Get everyone out of the house for awhile. We'll have this all sorted out by the time you come back."

"Do you guys want to take Laura to the park?" Paige asked, addressing the boys.

"Yeah!" Chris jumped up enthusiastically.

Wyatt, however, was not quite sold on the idea. "Can't Laura stay here?"

Paige rolled her eyes, "You might want to see that he gets past this stage before you knock up my sister again, Leo. It didn't work out so well last time."

"Paige." Phoebe winced.

"What? I'm just saying."

Leo merely shook his head, knowing full well that battles of wits against Paige generally only ever led to further embarrassment for him. Aside from the odd, well timed dig, he really couldn't match her twisted humour.

He took a compliant Laura out of Phoebe's arms and followed the boys down the corridor, leaving Phoebe and Paige to work their sisterly magic.

"Bye mom!" Chris and Wyatt shouted.

"Have fun."

It came out as a whisper, and she was certain the boys couldn't have heard it, but the sound of their tiny voices had caused the lump in her throat to return. What she wouldn't do to be able to bounce back the way her children did. Wyatt hadn't even been concerned with his injury, or the fact that she had been the one to cause it. She was willing to bet he had already all but forgotten the incident entirely. Paige, Phoebe and Leo were forever telling her to let things go; and for the thousandth time she wondered what part of her flawed design inhibited her from doing what appeared to come so naturally, so easily, to everyone else.

For once, Wyatt and Chris donned their outdoor wear quickly; the fact that Leo overrode Wyatt's demand to tie his own laces probably sped them along. Piper listened carefully for the tell-tale opening and closing of the front door, and then, only then, did she tentatively relax.

Paige rested her hand on Phoebe's shoulder, and was just about to orb when a door crashed open from somewhere on the ground floor. The girls tensed, but before Paige could orb them downstairs, a familiar, slightly winded voice drifted up the stairs.

"Paige?!"

"Oh for God's sake." Phoebe muttered.

Paige sighed. To be completely honest, in all the excitement she had forgotten her husband.

"Up here!" She answered calmly.

They heard him mutter angrily to himself before he charged up the stairs, following the direction of his wife's voice.

"What the hell?" he panted furiously.

Phoebe couldn't suppress the giggle that bubbled into her throat, although to her credit, she _did_ make a valiant effort to keep it to herself. Not that it seemed to matter to Henry, given the look of death he directed her way.

"Sorry." She coughed.

A muffled, mocking laugh came through the bathroom door; the kind of ridiculing snicker that was so very Piper. Henry, distracted, dropped his confrontational stance and peered at them curiously.

"What's going on?"

"Hi Henry." Piper's voice travelled through casually.

"Piper, if you want to talk, you have to come out here and do it face-to-face like a big girl." Phoebe ordered.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Piper snorted, "One of the kids? I'll talk when I damn well please. And this is _my _house; I don't "have to" come anywhere."

"Well, at least she's not crying anymore." Paige commented.

"Paige!" Phoebe scolded, her exasperation peaking, "Okay, seriously? I don't know what your deal is today, but you need to knock it off. It's not helping."

"Fine. I'm sorry. But I can't help getting a little testy when the proverbial you-know-what starts hitting the fan, and we keep going around in circles! Henry, I'm sorry I forgot to call you back, but you need to go. I love you; but you need to go."

"Well that's great, Paige. I hear a bomb go off, you hang up on me, you don't answer when I call, and then you're surprised when I show up here?"

"Henry," Paige said tiredly, "There were really pressing things going on, okay? Stop being such a girl about it already."

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Henry, come on." Phoebe said impatiently, "We're dealing with a crisis here."

Henry took a deep breath. Somehow, he couldn't quite imagine the girls treating Leo like the inconvenient intruder they so often made _him _out to be. He loved each of them, but all three, together; they were unbelievable.

"Why is Piper locked in the bathroom?" He asked instead.

"Because Piper is a danger to others."

"Now you're just being melodramatic." Paige shouted back, "You can't hide in there forever!"

"Wanna bet?"

"Where's Leo?" Henry asked quickly, before they forgot he was standing there. Again.

"The park." Paige smiled tightly, "The one off Elmwood. You can go catch up with him and the kids if you want?"

Her tone indicated it was more of an order than a suggestion, and Henry rubbed the back of his neck as he stared between his wife and sister-in-law. As usual, he decided to save himself the hassle of taking them on while they were unified.

"Give us a shout when we're allowed back in the house." He conceded.

"Henry."

Paige called him back before he made it to the stairs, and by the time he turned, she was in his arms, forcing her tongue into his mouth and kissing him enthusiastically. For a second, he let her do all the work; then he remembered he wasn't an inexperienced twelve year old boy.

"Grosss."

He was vaguely aware of Phoebe's whine, but really, there was only one thought going through his head:

Most. Awesome. Wife. Ever.

When she pulled away, she gave him a soft smile and a wink, "I'll see you."

Translation; I love you. Relax. Please don't be mad. I'm sorry.

… okay, maybe the, "I'm sorry," bit was wishful thinking on his part. But damn it, it made him feel better.

"I'll see you." He replied with a smile.

And suddenly, he wasn't nearly as bitter about being banished to the park as he had been only seconds before.

Satisfied, Paige refocused her attention on Phoebe; she was just about done with all their distractions. "Phoebe, we're doing this now. Piper! We're coming in. And if you so much as blink menacingly in our direction, so help me God you will regret it."

* * *

_I know, I know; I did a kind of a mean thing. But I've got the beginnings of a plan in mind and I think, in the end, you'll forgive me. Oh, also, it probably goes without saying, but while I might bring a lot of things from the past into play, you can rest assured the so-called "ultimate power" will never be mentioned in anything but passing. I've watched almost every episode of the eighth season, but to be honest, I spent the majority of the episodes visiting my "happy place" and doing homework (and I mean, actually, legitimately doing homework… which almost never happens) while I waited for it to just be over and done with. Really? Billie is supposed to be the biggest threat the Charmed Ones have ever faced? Really? I'm supposed to buy that? Really??? They should have let the bitch die in that stupid Hulk episode. Ugh._


	6. Chapter 6

Hey all! I owe this chapter to Ingrid Michaelson, who not only inspires the title of this fic, but provides me with background music that never fails to get me jazzed for writing, haha. If my roommates hear _**Breakable **_one more time, they'll probably beat me with one or more of the numerous hockey sticks we've got laying around the apartment (we all play... it's a dangerous place to live :P). There's an itty bitty Lethal Weapon reference at the beginning (the first movie) but it's no big deal if you haven't seen it. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Phoebe's plan had been to dive straight into her pep talk the moment she appeared on the other side of the door. Paige's plan had been a little less cheerleader-esque; she just wanted to say her piece, and then drag her sister out of the bathroom by any means necessary. Either course of action would have been effective, but both of them were stunned into silence by the sight that awaited them.

"Piper?" Paige asked cautiously.

Piper lay in the empty bathtub, fully clothed, flat on her back. Her bare feet rested against the tiled wall above the faucet, and her hands were placed beneath her head. From what they could tell, she had been in that position for awhile.

"Don't worry; I'm not doing anything crazy." Piper assured absently.

"I don't know about that."

"Piper, what are you doing in the bathtub?" Phoebe asked.

"Well… I was thinking about how old this house is, and how the bathtub has got to be like, the sturdiest thing in this place, so then I thought that if I stay inside it, then I'm doubling my chances of not hurting somebody. Right? I mean, it worked on Die Hard, didn't it?"

"That was Lethal Weapon, sweetie."

"Whatever. Same thing."

Phoebe sighed. This was crazy. She was not going to attempt a serious conversation with her sister while towering over her in a bathroom. If Piper wasn't going to come out, she was going to go in.

"Squish over."

Piper quirked an eyebrow, but made no further motion to indicate she was even considering her sister's request.

"Please?" She whined, "I won't take up much room."

"Ugh. Phoebe, not the baby voice."

A smile passed between Phoebe and Paige, and then both of them were clambering into the tub, unsympathetically trampling Piper's body left right and centre in an effort to find a comfortable position.

"Ouch! Phoebe! Are you kidding me? Get out!"

Phoebe ignored her and shuffled her body under Piper's head, then she leaned casually against the back of the tub and allowed her legs to dangle over the side. "You're stuck with us."

"This is ridiculous." She huffed.

"_You're_ being ridiculous." Paige chimed as she snuggled into the nook near the drain, throwing her legs over the bodies of her sisters. "If we're running with the Lethal Weapon theme? Danny Glover didn't have to stay in the bathtub by himself; crazy old Mel was right there with him. We're your Mel, Piper; you might as well embrace it."

"Well, that's very comforting." Piper drawled sarcastically, but the hint of a smile on her face encouraged Phoebe.

"Tell us how we can help." She said softly, but firmly, as she played with Piper's long hair.

Piper relaxed under the comforting administrations of her younger sister. She sometimes forgot how easily they fit together. She knew, within reason, they would do anything she asked of them, and because of this, her next words gave her trouble. Not because she feared they would say no, but because she knew beyond doubt they would say yes, and she desperately wanted an excuse to not have to do this hard thing.

"I want Paige to take Wyatt and Chris."

She felt Phoebe's fingers freeze in her tangled mane, and she held her breath, praying Phoebe and Paige didn't interpret this decision as a neurotic overreaction, but as one of select few logical options they had available to them.

"Oh honey, it's not that bad." Phoebe soothed.

Piper couldn't help but smile at the gross understatement only Phoebe would ever try to deliver.

"I hit my son with a door; I almost killed my husband. I think that counts as pretty bad, Phoebe."

"Still, there has to be another way." Paige said thoughtfully.

"I've been sitting here trying to think of one. But, the bottom line is, I can't learn to control myself until I stop panicking. And I can't do _that_ with two little boys in the house. So, they're going to need to be somewhere else for a few days until I'm confident enough to bring them back."

Paige shifted in the tub and stared intently into Piper's eyes, "Do you really want to do this?"

"No." She answered honestly. "I don't know how long this is going to take, and I don't want to do it at all. I don't want to let either of them out of my sight, especially not now. But it would be selfish of me to keep them here."

"Then I'll take them home with Henry and I. Whenever you decide."

"Now." Piper answered immediately. "They go home with you now. The sooner they leave, the sooner they can come back."

"What about Leo?" Phoebe asked softly.

Piper rolled her eyes, "I've thought about that too. He's not going to leave me here by myself; not even if I beg. Rather than waste even more time worrying about whether or not I can trust him to keep away, I think it's better I just accept that, and try to deal with it."

The girls remained sprawled out in the bathtub a few minutes longer, and Piper couldn't help but think back to her childhood; to nights spent buried underneath "forts" on evenings Prue was willing to stop acting like the grown-up for long enough to participate. Did people ever outgrow their childhoods? Was it possible to ever reach a point where the traumas and triumphs didn't sneak into the brain when it was least expected? She didn't think it was. Or maybe she just had an exceptionally difficult time letting go of the things she should just leave behind.

When Phoebe, ever the attention deficit one, began squirming underneath her, she decided to get out and face the world.

"Come on. Off." She said, pushing impatiently on Paige's legs.

"Where are you going?"

"To call Leo. And then to pack for the boys."

* * *

It wasn't hard for Henry to spot Leo and the kids amongst the crowd of children and parents in the park; he could hear the excited shouts of his nephews -through all the other voices- from the street corner. Wyatt and Chris had infiltrated a group of kids with a soccer ball, and he watched in silent amusement as the pack chased the ball back and forth. Not surprisingly, Chris was the one who spotted him first.

"Hi Uncle Henry!" He yelled.

Henry smiled and returned the eager wave. Chris's loud greeting brought Henry's presence to Leo's attention as well, and from his position, pushing Laura on the toddler swing, he gave Henry a puzzled smile.

"Hey." Henry greeted as he approached, "Is there room in the babysitter's club for one more?"

"You know it." Leo grinned. "What brings you out here?"

"I was very abrasively kicked out of your house by my wife."

"Ah." Leo nodded his understanding, "Yeah…it's been an interesting couple days."

"If they need you, you can go back now." Henry offered graciously, "I can stay here with the kids."

Leo shook his head and gave a self depreciating laugh. "That's alright. I don't think I would be any more welcome than you were. Piper's powers are out of control; it's not a good place to be mortal right now. In her mind, anyway."

He shuffled his feet and gave Laura another gentle push, and Henry studied him curiously. From his perspective, Leo had always seemed as much a member of their team as the sisters themselves. They asked him questions… he actually knew the answers. The man was a walking encyclopaedia. When they first met, Leo had just finished helping Piper save the world, save _his _world, by traveling back in time to save Paige and Phoebe. Leo was the mortal with special privileges. He had just assumed Piper and Leo were so connected, he was automatically accepted as an extension of her in the Power of Three.

"It happens to you too."

It was a statement, not a question, and Henry felt a new camaraderie between Leo and himself. Coop would be every bit as unwelcome in the house at the present moment, of that Henry was sure, but there existed an entirely different tone in the girls' voices when it came to himself that he went back and forth between understanding, and resenting.

"Sure." Leo made no attempt to pretend he didn't know what Henry was asking.

"I always thought you were exempt from the "no mortals" rule."

"It depends on the threat; if it's something small that I can help them with, that's one thing. But anything else…" his voice trailed off, and a pensive look crossed his face. "… it makes Piper nervous." He finished simply.

Nervous. Translation; panicked. Terrified. Henry understood.

"How do you do it? How do you not go crazy standing out here, knowing what it is they're doing in the meantime?"

Leo shrugged. "I try not to think about it. I try not to think about it, and I do what they ask, because it gives them less to worry about. The less they worry about me, the more they concentrate on what they're doing. And the more I can see they're actually concentrating on what they're doing, the less I worry about them in return. It's… very circular."

"It can't be that easy for you." Henry replied skeptically, "I know you used to be the greatest whitelighter of all time and all that, but come on."

"It's not." He admitted, "But I do it for Piper. I think about her, and then the hard things aren't as hard."

As Henry mulled this over, the cell phone in Leo's pocket began to chirp. He deftly answered it without breaking the rhythm of his hand against the back of Laura's swing.

"Hello?... fine; Wyatt and Chris found a soccer game. Henry's here too."

Henry's ears perked to attention at the mention of his name, and he listened in with unabashed curiosity to Leo's end of the conversation.

"Not too long. Why? What's going on?"

After another forty five seconds of equally vague, aggravatingly unspecific conversation, Leo hung up the phone and met Henry's impatient gaze.

"That was Piper." He stated unnecessarily, "She wants us to come back."

* * *

The boys had spent countless nights at the homes of their aunts and uncles, as Laura, and any future children of Piper's sisters, were bound to spend at the manor. Neither child had ever displayed serious separation issues, but today, for the first time, Piper and Leo had difficulties convincing the boys to go. Today, Wyatt and Chris could sense a tension in the adults that unsettled them, and surprisingly enough, while both boys – intuitive as they were – were visibly upset, it was Wyatt who was inconsolable.

"I don't wanna go." Wyatt sniffed, "Don't make me go."

"Honey, you love staying with Auntie Paige." Piper cheered with an over-bright smile, "There's no mean mommy telling you not to use your powers, there's a bigger TV… hotdogs."

"No." he protested adamantly, "I'm staying in my room."

Leo winced as Wyatt defiantly orbed away his backpack, presumably sending it back to his bedroom. In Leo's arms, Chris gasped in shock and waited with bated breath to see the reaction the abuse of magic would elicit from Piper.

She appeared to be caught between lecturing and hugging her son, and after a moment of indecision that seemed more characteristic of a much younger Piper, she turned her head to stare helplessly in Leo's direction. When he stepped forward, she took Chris out of his arms, and then handed him off to Henry as she ran upstairs to retrieve the bag.

"Daddy, please." Wyatt begged, "I'll be good, and I'll listen, and I won't use magic or fight with Chris."

Leo's heart broke a little further, having never seen this level of desperation in his son before, and no notion of what could possibly account for it.

"Wyatt, you're not being punished. We just want you to be safe, and healthy, and happy. And right now, the best way for you to be all those things is by staying with Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry, okay?"

Henry groaned internally as Chris began to whimper under Wyatt's influence. Already, he was calculating bribes to secure their contentment; one of the advantages to being the relative and not the parent was the lack of disciplinary action required on his part.

He was brought back to earth by the familiar cry he heard rising in Chris's throat.

"Not you too, little man." He said as he bounced his nephew up and down, "Uncle Henry can only handle on crier at a time."

Surprisingly enough, Chris pulled himself together almost instantly, and Henry once again marvelled at how sensitive the child was to his environment.

"Why don't you want to go, Wyatt?" Leo asked softly.

"I don't know." He began to cry earnestly, frustrated by his inability to communicate what he was feeling, "I don't know I just don't want to."

When Piper returned to the foyer, Chris was clinging complacently to Henry's back, arms tightly gripping his neck, and legs circling his waist as far as they could reach. Wyatt had stopped crying, but he was cuddled against Leo's chest in a way that told Piper it was going to be a bitch getting him into the car.

Deciding that they weren't going to make any further progress talking, she handed the backpack to Phoebe, who opened the door and began the short walk to the car; Paige, Henry and Chris followed. She tried to take Wyatt from Leo, but he stiffened, making it impossible for her to get a good grip on him.

"Come on sweetie; this is getting a little bit ridiculous."

"No."

"Well, you're going, buddy." Piper finally stated factually, "Now, you can either give me a kiss goodbye, or you can leave mad at me. I'd rather the kiss, but either way, you _are_ leaving this house."

Wyatt chose to leave mad at her.

Piper, Leo and Phoebe waved from the driveway as Henry's car disappeared down the street; Chris waved back, Wyatt did not. By the time Phoebe and Leo turned to go back into the house, Piper had already slipped inside.

"I give it three days before Paige calls you and proposes trading kids." Leo joked weakly as they walked through the front hall.

Phoebe gave him a half smile, "They'll come around. If there's anything Chris and Wyatt are by nature, it's independent. As soon as Wyatt's certain you aren't going anywhere, he'll be back to his old self."

Leo frowned and came to an abrupt stop, "Why would he think I'm going somewhere?"

Phoebe mentally kicked herself, realizing that she had – once again – said a lot more aloud than she had intended.

"Never mind. Poor choice of words."

He placed a gentle arm on hers as she began to turn, "What is it, Phoebe?" He insisted.

"Well, I know we all generally view Chris as the one who's most sensitive to the feelings of those around him… but I think Wyatt is more attuned to imbalances where you're concerned."

"Phoebe," Leo sighed, "Just say what you're thinking. Please. I'm too tired."

"I don't know… for the first three and a half years of Wyatt's life, you were in and out." Phoebe fidgeted uncomfortably with the cuff of her sweater, "Sometimes he had both of you, other times he had just Piper… sometimes Piper held it together really well, other times, not so much. I think he associates these moments of high stress as a precedent to extended absence and instability; which explains why he was so distraught. Chris was more on edge because he couldn't understand why Wyatt was as opposed to being truly upset himself. Chris is bound to be better adjusted; he's barely known a life outside of the solid home comprised of both his parents. He hadn't even turned two yet when you came back for good."

Phoebe flinched at the wounded expression which crossed Leo's face. She wasn't blaming him, not in the least, and she highly doubted Wyatt was even conscious of any of this, but it explained a lot; the way he clung to Leo, the way he couldn't exactly express why he was so upset… however, she didn't know how to explain it to Leo in a way that wouldn't make him view himself as responsible, which was why she had meant to keep her musings to herself.

"You think he acted the way he did because of me?"

"No, Leo. I'm not saying that. And I'm sure he's not even aware of it; but on some level, when tension rises and he finds himself shipped out of the house, he goes back to that place. There's a fear that when he comes back, you aren't going to be here."

She waited for a response from Leo; any response. None came. She shifted from side to side, beginning numerous sentences and finishing none of them. She was saddened – as she was every time – by how quickly these things spiralled. The Halliwell family, including the men who married into it, could do nothing halfway; they were either sickeningly inseparable, forming a co-dependent group with an entirely different set of issues, or they were coming apart at the seams. It was loud, boisterous voices, or it was heavy silence. Easy laughter, or obvious avoidance of eye contact.

Randomly, the way it always happened, Phoebe's thoughts turned to Prue. To the older sister who would have never put up with this crap. To the bossy, forward, overbearing sister, who would have simply ordered each and every one of them out of their juvenile behaviour. The sister who would have commanded them to work as a team, and would have been so domineering and haughty about it, she would have eliminated all the insecurities, even if they were replaced with a common irritation toward her.

Suddenly Piper's absence seemed only too conspicuous, and Phoebe felt a rare awkward silence forming between herself, and the man she truly thought of as her older brother. She felt regret; she was accustomed to fighting with Piper, to fighting with Paige… she had even found herself annoyed by Henry a time or two, but this elephant in the room, standing directly between her and Leo, was something she had never encountered. Their relationship was supposed to be easy.

She tapped her heel against the floor and cleared her throat.

"I should go." She feigned a light laugh. "I'm sure your niece has conked out on us already. Crazy, you know? The way she can fall asleep during anything? Just like Wyatt and Chris when they were babies. Well, not Wyatt I guess… but Chris."

Leo gave her a distracted nod. It should have been the perfect out; but while she wanted to run from the foyer, to run from the manor and away from this situation until it resolved itself and restored her and Leo to the comfortable place they had always been, she couldn't seem to make that first step out of the hall.

"Are you okay? Are _we_ okay?"

His face broke into the smile she knew so well; open and bright, marred only slightly by the tinge of self-disparagement lying beneath.

"We're fine, Phoebe. Take my niece home."

She grinned in relief. Her empathy powers had long since advanced to a level that surpassed the blocking potion her sisters had taken five years ago, but somewhere along the line, she had developed a conscience; tuning in to the private feelings of those she loved most was invasive on a scale even _she_ wasn't comfortable with. Most of the time. For the most part, she chose to respect their right to undisclosed emotion, and left them free to reveal to her what they decided to when they were ready.

Most of the time.

Like anyone else, she was prone to the occasional setback.

"Stop it." Leo reprimanded, giving her a knowing look.

She smiled sheepishly, "Can't blame a girl for wanting to be sure."

"Go home, Phoebe." He playfully commanded.

She giggled and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing gratefully before turning to collect her daughter.

"Phoebe."

She turned to face him and tilted her head expectantly.

"Thank you."

He pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, and then humbly walked up the stairs to find Piper, leaving Phoebe to let herself out.

"Are you ready to go home, Laura-bug?" She cooed softly into the playpen they had set up in the parlour… one of the few rooms on the ground floor that hadn't been extensively damaged within the last four hours.

Laura wiped the sleep from her eyes as Phoebe prodded her gently. "Home." She agreed. "Daddy."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go baby girl."

She hoisted the diaper bag over her shoulder and allowed Laura to toddle in front of her toward the door. Before shutting it closed behind them, she broke her rule – for the millionth time – and focused on Piper; reassuring herself that it was okay for her to leave her sister. She smiled when she felt only determination and impatience; the very definition of Piper Halliwell.

Piper would find her centre; she always did.

* * *

Leo wandered down the corridor, blatantly ignoring the mess in the manor hall. The lack of a door – or hallway wall – made it easy to see that Piper was not in their bedroom, but even amidst the crumbled plaster, the splintered wood and the broken glass, fresh clean sheets had been pulled over the mattress, and a brand new duvet lay symmetrically across the top, tucked in with military precision. Piper had obviously come and gone.

The all too familiar sound of a small explosion reached his ears, and he walked back to the hallway, trying to determine the direction of the noise. He didn't have to wait long; another explosion was soon to follow.

He headed down to the main floor, easily tracking the explosions that were now rocking the floorboards in quick succession. As he stood indecisively in the kitchen, another explosion sounded directly beneath him, and his head turned to the basement door.

He should have known.

He was deliberating on whether or not to go down the stairs, when his gaze absently came to rest on the bright green plastic cups sitting on the counter by the sink. Bright green, because that was the only colour in the set containing a duplicate, and the boys liked to match. Actually, it was more accurate to state that they, as the parents, liked the boys to match, since it cut down on arguments over who received the better colour.

Wyatt and Chris had recently entered a phase that Piper assured him was entirely normal, as irritating as it was. One where absolutely everything between them had to be even. From the number of chocolate chips in a cookie, to the amount of time spent tucking them in, if it didn't seem exactly fair, there was hell to pay.

Piper had once told him that Prue and Phoebe had actually counted the number of french-fries they each received with dinner until she was nine.

He had had an older brother in his first life; one that had died in the war before he had enlisted… one who's death sparked his desire to help. But he had no memory of that innate competition he often saw between his sons, and his wife and her sisters. It had been a different time then; the emotional outbursts he witnessed on a daily basis from his family had been unheard of, but so had the displays of carefree, exuberant, uninhibited, childlike enthusiasm.

When Piper asked him about his first life – something that happened less and less as the years passed, but every once in awhile became part of the conversation; oftentimes by means of a curious inquiry made by Wyatt or Chris – he didn't mean to be secretive, but he also didn't know how to explain to her that thinking about another life, another era, in their time, only pushed the memories further away. It clouded them until he was no longer certain what was fact, what was his, and what was only a memory of the memories shown to him by the elders. Besides, he didn't want to think about that life; he didn't want to think about Lillian; it only filled him with guilt when he thought too hard on it. He had abandoned her, and never looked back. Then years later, he had abandoned Piper; more than once. His thoughts came full circle as this brought Phoebe's words to the forefront of his mind; he had abandoned Lillian, he had abandoned Piper, and he had abandoned his sons. Each act had been in spite of good intentions, in spite of love, and now Wyatt was, for the first time, exhibiting signs of trauma. He wondered if he was fated to being a terrible parent, regardless of what timeline he was in; in one, he had turned on his younger son in ways he couldn't imagine; stirred a hatred he hadn't known he was capable of drawing from anyone. And in this one, he waltzed in and out of the boys lives, and didn't even think to talk to them about any of it; to reassure them that it hadn't been his choice, and he wouldn't leave them for anything.

Failure.

He shook his head as another tremor vibrated the floor beneath his feet; Piper was still out of control. He made his decision; he would enter the basement, regardless of whether or not Piper wanted him to. He would enter the basement, because dealing with his wife's insecurities was much easier than dealing with his own.

Her back was to him when he opened the door, and he watched her, sitting cross legged atop a blanket she had thrown down on the gritty cement floor. He watched her roll her shoulders and then become completely still… until the top box in a stack against the wall disintegrated, and sent Christmas decorations flying in every which direction. She flinched and held her arms up over her face, then sighed and went back to her meditative position.

"Why is it that every time you banish yourself to the basement, the Christmas decorations are the first to go?" He commented lightly.

Piper jumped and twisted her body to face him, "Leo! Come on! You could not pick a worse time to sneak up on me!"

"What are you doing?"

His voice was calm, unperturbed. And the confidence he had in her abilities hurt her, because she had nearly killed him once already, and he wouldn't take it seriously.

"Practicing." She stated succinctly, in a tone that screamed determination.

"I see."

"You can't come down here." She snapped abruptly.

"Piper, don't do this." He said softly as he continued down the steps, flat out ignoring her command.

"I'm not safe; this is worse than the first time. At least then, the damage I could do was minimal. I'm a lot stronger now than I was eight years ago; I could level this whole house, Leo. Probably the houses on either side of it too. You know I could."

"Even _I _am not capable of pissing you off that badly." Leo assured confidently.

"Please go back upstairs." She begged.

The ball of fear weighing down her stomach coiled tighter with every step closer he took, and she wished with all her heart that for once, he would just listen when it really counted. She wasn't concerned with loyalty; she didn't need to see how willing he was to stand by her. She just needed to see him safe.

He tilted his head, as if he was considering it, and then he bounded the rest of the way down the stairs and came to rest on the blanket beside her.

"I don't think so."

She sighed and resigned herself to his company, resting her head in the nook of his shoulder where she fit so perfectly.

"Wyatt hates me." She muttered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"No he doesn't." Leo instantly disagreed.

"He wouldn't even look at me."

"I don't think it had anything to do with you."

She shifted slightly, giving him a curious quirk of her eyebrow, but he opted to change the subject instead.

"How are you doing? Magic wise."

"I suck." She mumbled, "The frustrating part is that they haven't even advanced, not really. They're the same powers I've had for years; there hasn't been any growth in their strengths, I just can't control them anymore. And I hate it. What was wrong with the way things were?"

"This is a good thing, Piper." He insisted, "Once you learn to control them, and you will, it will be to your advantage."

"Yeah well, until then, I'm just going to sit here and sulk in solitude about it." She responded dryly.

"Do you want to take a break? Maybe go for a drive?"

"No." She sighed, "I think I just want to stick with this until I get the hang of it. Or even until I can think a mildly perturbed thought without having something explode… I could settle for that."

He smiled and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head, "Alright. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"Not so fast, mister." She said, pulling on his sleeve as he stood up. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing." He answered unconvincingly.

"Uh huh. Well, if you can't tell me what's bothering you, then I'm going to assume it has something to do with me. Are we getting divorced again?" She teased.

He rolled his eyes, "That's not even funny."

"Then tell me."

"It's not a big deal." He squirmed, "It's just something Phoebe said that has me thinking."

"Oh no." Piper growled, pushing herself away from him to better look at his face, "What psycho-nonsense has she been filling your head with?"

"It's really nothing…" He repeated. "…I can't stop thinking about Wyatt, and about the way he acted today… and about how maybe it's my fault."

"What?"

"I was trying to figure out why he was so upset, and Phoebe pointed out that Wyatt probably remembers, at least on a subconscious level, all the times I've left him. All the times he's gone from having both parents, to one, in the blink of an eye. All this excitement makes him think he's about to be abandoned again."

"Leo, it was a long time ago; and it wasn't your fault. It was a difficult time for everyone, yourself included. You're not actually feeling guilty about this?"

His silence was all the answer she needed.

"This is ridiculous." Piper laughed bitterly, "Why is it that we can never stop beating ourselves up over the things we can't change? Don't feel guilty." She demanded passionately, "Don't you ever feel guilty. My sister needs to learn to keep her mouth shut."

"It's true, Piper. You saw him; what other explanation is there?"

"It's done." She insisted. "Let it go. All you need to do is look into his eyes to see how much he adores you; and that's all he's going to know when he grows up. That his dad loves him; that his dad gave up everything to be with him."

Leo gave her a half smile of his own, "That's a popular lecture for us, isn't it? Letting go. I feel like we just take turns reciting it to each other."

"It's sound advice." She shrugged, "Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to give than it is to abide by."

"So what do we do in the meantime?"

"We practice." She smiled sadly. "We practice, and hope someday, we get it right."

She placed a quick, reassuring kiss on his cheek, and then impulsively placed a more passionate one against his lips.

"What was that for?" Leo asked when she pulled away.

"Just because." She smiled.

He returned the gesture, and then somehow, in that subtle way Leo always managed, she was lying on her back underneath him with no conscious memory of changing position.

"This floor is disgusting." Piper frowned.

"Would that be more, or less disgusting than the floor at P3?" Leo gloated smugly.

"Shut up." She laughed.

"Come on. It's the only room in the manor we haven't done it in… besides the conservatory."

"Not a chance."

There were times when every calm word out of his mouth made her want to scream, and then there were other times, times like this one, when his mere presence made everything that was wrong, absolutely, positively, one hundred percent bearable. She knew she could do this. She knew she could find her centre, because she had been down this road before, and she had survived. If for no other reason, she knew she could do this because he so firmly believed she could.

"I might freeze you." She breathed flimsily as he kissed that spot below her collarbone that drove her crazy.

"Like you haven't done that before." He smirked. "If I had a dollar for every bite mark I can't account for, no matter how long I spend trying to remember –

"Alright, alright." She conceded. "Fine. But I'm not guaranteeing I won't accidentally blow us both to kingdom come when we… you know, get to the good part."

"What a way to go." He murmured.

And then they both stopped thinking. Clothing was rapidly removed and thrown to the far corners of the basement, and for the first fifteen, blissful minutes, there was no more guilt, no more obsessing. She exhaled gratefully as he moved on top of her, inside of her, and then the pleasure turned bittersweet and she squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the fear that had crept its way in once again. Hating herself for letting it.

"Are you okay?" He whispered.

She nodded, but she didn't open her eyes, because she couldn't bear to see his; dark and passionate and concerned, all at the same time. She clenched her eyelids firmly together until spots began to shoot off in front of her, until she couldn't tell if the bright lights behind her lids were because of the pressure, or because of the agony and the ecstasy that so often came of being with Leo. She pressed her lids together until there was no more fear, or thought, or worry. There was PiperandLeo; together right now. And for the passing of the hour, she would will that to be enough.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry it's taken me so long to upload; my plan was to put it up on Friday, but I was really unsatisfied, so I gave myself until Sunday… but then by Sunday night I still wasn't feeling it, so I gave myself a final deadline of Tuesday, and then in a fitting twist of Karma, when I actually did try to upload it (this would be the sixth attempt) my stupid-piece-of-garbage-lame-hole-in-the-wall-sucking-vortex-for-all-things-technology apartment decided that I didn't deserve to get a wireless signal today. It's been finicky for days now, so if I don't respond timely to your reviews, that would be why. Please don't think I don't appreciate them, because I totally do :) .

* * *

**Chapter 7**

_It hasn't been a vacation by any means, but in the last few days, the last few days when she has grown more confident in her capacity to control her powers, when she has slowly stopped trembling every time Leo touches her for fear she will make a mistake, things have become better; manageable. She and Leo have decided to leave the boys with her sister a few days longer just to be sure – even though Leo maintains that he has already been sure for days – that there will be no more accidents, but the atmosphere in the manor has changed. Piper is no longer tense, and subsequently, Leo no longer feels the compulsion to hover. _

_The boys are coming home tomorrow; Piper has already thanked Paige and Henry, and eagerly informed them of her and Leo's plan to reclaim their children. It is Piper's idea to make a nice dinner; when Leo asks if she wants to go out, she knows right away that she does not. She so rarely has opportunity or time for "real" cooking anymore, and it seems a fitting way to enjoy their last night as a family of two. Stress and frustration on both their parts have been too high to really enjoy the company of the other before now. _

_Leo learns the extent of her buoyant mood when she shyly asks if he wants to help, and the two of them move hand in hand to the kitchen. As she directs Leo, and subtly adds spices to the pot on the burner that he hadn't quite managed to season the way she asked, Piper thinks of Wyatt and Chris. Wyatt, Chris, and the two tiny stools they dutifully drag around the kitchen when they want to help her. She thinks of the many times she has tripped over the cumbersome devices and nearly fallen._

"_What?" Leo smiles._

_Her grin grows wider, "The step-stools."_

_He groans and rolls his eyes, and she laughs openly._

"_You remember the step-stools, don't you, Leo?"_

_Of course he remembers the stools. Of course, she already knows he remembers them. Another snort of laughter slips from her lips as she thinks of finding poor Leo, sitting in a mess of broken egg shells and yolky insides and shattered dishes on Mother's Day the year before. According to Leo, Wyatt had dragged the stool to the fridge in order to be nearer his father, and with a stealth Piper viewed as poetic, given the many many occasions her husband has startled her over the years, Leo hadn't even noticed until it was too late._

"_This is nice." She says softly. "We should make time to do this more often. Under better circumstances, of course."_

"_Agreed."_

_He drops a light kiss on her neck, and then pulls open the oven door._

"_Wait, not yet!"_

_She heaves an aggrieved sigh when Leo freezes, bent over the oven. Nothing has exploded, but she is irritated regardless. Freezing Leo on purpose is one thing, freezing him unintentionally is another issue entirely. She glares at his statuesque form; in these moments of disappointment in herself, it is always easier to be mad at Leo. Unfair, to be sure, but easier nevertheless. She had very clearly told him not to open the door until a half hour had passed. All he had to do was pay attention._

_She reflexively raises her hands to unfreeze him, but before she can flick her wrists, or even think about doing so, there is an explosion that knocks her off her feet. Her irritation triples as she picks herself up off the floor; great. There would be no hiding her little setback from Leo now. Except Leo isn't in the kitchen anymore. When the smoke clears, she can't see Leo anywhere. Her heart thumps against her ribs, and her skin grows cold, because her body knows what she has done before her mind has a chance to process it. Her body recognizes a new void in itself and immediately goes into lockdown. Her body knows that when her mind catches up, it will cease to function._

_It's not real. She says this to herself very firmly. It's not real, it's not real. But her senses are rioting against her in their quest to convince her of the truth. Her ears ring with the silence of the kitchen, the kitchen that now holds only one person where there used to be two. Her nose burns, because the smell of burnt flesh is overwhelming. It's a smell she has grown used to in her years as a witch, a smell she hardly notices anymore, but this is different. Because there haven't been any demons in this room. There has only been…_

_It's not real. It's not real. Wake up, Piper. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. Come on you silly girl, open your eyes. _

And then she does.

* * *

Piper's eyes fluttered open, and she remained stock-still beneath her blankets. She held her breath and counted to ten, keeping track of the number of breaths she heard from Leo before daring to exhale. He was still asleep.

She dreamt vividly; she always had, but it had steadily become worse over the years. When Prue had first died, her imagination had run wild when she slept and tortured her with terrible, terrible images of her sister. Of the way she hadn't been strong enough to save her. And Leo, good, sweet Leo, had awoken every time she woke crying and on the verge of complete hysteria. His patience had been boundless as always, and she had resented it. Resented the way he accepted her so unconditionally, even when she was crazy. Resented the way she couldn't accept herself the same way. And so she had taught herself to wake up silently. She had taught her mind to pull her forcefully out of her sleep before the terror could swallow her whole.

In the way she had been forced to do off and on since Prue's death, she closed her eyes and swallowed, inhaling and exhaling evenly to calm her racing heartbeat. _Don't look at Leo._ That was another integral part of her ritual; with her touch, more often than not he was pulled from sleep as well. Sometimes it was worth the risk, sometimes she couldn't fight the compulsion, but tonight she would refrain. She wouldn't look at Leo, because she could never look at his face without touching it, just to be sure. And so she balled her fists and kept her gaze straight ahead. She inched her way off the mattress and pulled her sweat soaked shirt over her head with disdain before quietly slipping out the bedroom door.

* * *

Leo woke to an empty bedroom. Getting Piper to come to bed at all was proving to be a nightly struggle, but keeping her there was a battle he couldn't seem to win. He had all but dragged her up from the basement at one thirty in the morning, and the bedside clock now read five fifteen. He wondered how long ago she had left the room… if she had managed to sleep for even an hour before the nightmare pulled her back into consciousness.

He ran a hand over his exhausted face; the breakneck pace of the last week and a half was beginning to catch up with him, and he knew it couldn't be much longer before Piper burned out as well. Apparently, sending Wyatt and Chris home with Paige and Henry had been the right decision at exactly the right time, because soon afterwards, demons had begun coming out of the woodwork. It was as if the entire lower level community of the underworld had lost their minds. Demons, who really should know better by this point, had been attacking the manor, one by one. Although to Piper and himself it was a nuisance, it was suicide to the demons; and as his pissed off spouse sent them one by one to the demonic wasteland, he couldn't even begin to make sense of it all. The upside was, Piper was getting ample practice at controlling the intensity behind her explosions. She had managed to exert her normal, unwavering, strict control the last four days; which, considering her – as of late – flashpoint temper, was quite a feat. He listened carefully for any sound that would give away her presence on the second floor, and when he heard nothing, he reluctantly pulled off the comforter and went in search of his wife.

He found her in the living room curled up on one of the couches, staring mindlessly at the television screen in front of her. Half buried in a knitted throw, she looked twice as small as she already was.

It was a step up. At least she wasn't in the basement.

"Is there anything good on?" He asked casually as he sat on the cushion beside her.

Piper very nearly jumped out of her skin, and she let her breath out in the form of an angry hiss as she glared at him.

Leo lifted both hands in apologetic surrender. It was a reflexive action on his part more than anything else; she frequently scolded him for startling her, but the truth was, she was so often lost in her own world it was impossible for him not to.

She held her breath a moment before relaxing back into the seat and Leo knew she was waiting for an explosion; for an excuse to validate her ongoing delay in bringing the boys home, despite the fact that it had been days since her magic last flew out of her control. They were approaching day twelve, and in his mind, she had been ready almost immediately following the one week mark. Of course, there was no point in telling her that; her dreams were doing a better job of breaking her confidence than he was of building it. Four days ago a demon had attacked, and Piper had flicked her wrists and vanquished it with ease. When the second demon shimmered in behind her and pinned her arms, she had just as easily, just as naturally, almost absently, vanquished him without the hands, and nothing else in the room had so much as shaken. It had been instinctive, and she had seemed pleased with herself, even tentatively asked him his thoughts on retrieving the boys within the next few days, until that night. That night, he had woken up alone; not unusual, given all the hours she had dedicated to mastering the power advancement, but when he brought up Wyatt and Chris the next day, she had abruptly changed her mind and starkly refused to discuss why. In the days since, he had woken early every morning alone in their bed and found her fitfully asleep in different rooms throughout the house; the couch in the attic, the kitchen table, the bench in the conservatory. He looked her over critically; her hair was damp, and she wasn't wearing the same clothes she had gone to bed in only hours before. She had showered. Probably in the bathroom down the hall from their bedroom in order to avoid waking him.

"They're getting worse, aren't they?"

She paused, then bit her lip and silently nodded her head without meeting his eyes.

"Is that why you're not ready to bring the boys home?"

Again, she paused before nodding.

"Piper."

He used _that _voice when he said her name; the voice that, tonight, made her want to cry, because if even _he_ was beginning to become frustrated with her, then she had to be pretty close to going off the deep end.

"They miss you. You miss them. _I_ miss them, and I've been checking in on them almost every day."

"I know that."

"Then what's the problem? You're ready. You have to see that."

"I don't trust it." She shook her head, "It took a lot longer than this the first time."

"It was a completely new thing then. Besides, at the time, you barely made an effort to get a hold of them. You tried for about two days, then you got frustrated and stubbornly decided to just carry on with your life, freezing things and blowing them up at random."

He couldn't help but laugh, and she turned her head away from him; but not before he saw the hint of a smile on her face.

"Do you ever get tired of doing this?" She smiled wanly, "Being my constant cheerleader?"

"You would do the same for me. You have, many times before."

She untangled herself from the throw, and graciously offered him half of it.

"They seem so real." She began, after she was securely wrapped against his chest. It was easier to be forthright when she knew he couldn't see her face; she didn't know why. "And I know that goes without saying for all dreams, but, I can't help but think; what if that happens? What if I…"

"So start small." He stepped in. "Start by going back to work. Let yourself get comfortable, and take it from there."

She was quiet for so long, Leo started to think she had fallen back asleep.

"I can do that." Piper said finally.

* * *

"Chris! Buddy, you're killing us!"

"I'm trying!"

Paige shut the apartment door behind her and rolled her eyes as she dropped her keys in the nearby bowl, immediately ascertaining the activity currently causing such a commotion. Only Henry could take a stupid videogame so seriously, he was willing to yell at his four year old nephew over it.

_Alright, already we'll all float on,  
Alright, don't worry even if things end up a bit too heavy; we'll all float on…_

"Do you guys have the volume turned up loud enough on that thing?" She shouted over the noise, walking into the living room.

Three boyish faces beamed back at her in response, and she wondered how Piper dealt with being outnumbered like this day in and day out. Her nephews had been with her twelve days, and already, Wyatt, Chris and Henry had formed their own boy club; she would die before admitting this to Henry, but she was a little bitter about losing her reigning title as coolest relative. All Henry had done was bring home that _stupid_ Guitar Hero game… he couldn't even orb.

"Hi honey." Henry grinned without taking his eyes away from the scrolling notes on the television screen.

"Auntie Paige, I can't see!" Chris protested.

"Come on, hon." Henry complained, "As if we aren't close enough to failing already. Get out of his way."

"Why yes, I had a _fantastic_ day at work while the three of you sat here playing your little game all day; thank you for asking." Paige exclaimed dramatically.

When she failed to get even a minimal response from any of the males in her living room, she gave up, and grudgingly shuffled a few steps to the side.

"Auntie Paige, watch me! Are you watching?"

Wyatt banged enthusiastically on the play drum set, only managing to hit about three out of every five notes, and clearly having way too much fun to be able to tell the difference. Chris stood beside him, struggling to grip the guitar that was more than half his height, but his face was one hundred percent determination as he stubbornly stayed the course.

"No wonder you guys are having such a hard time; Chris, that guitar is bigger than you are. Wyatt, trade with him."

Wyatt began to protest at the same time as Chris triumphantly began to voice his agreement.

"It's my turn!"

"Auntie Paige said trade!"

"We're taking turns, Paige." Henry warned, "Don't make them start that up again."

Paige held up both hands in surrender, "Fine."

Chris chanced a glance away from the screen and looked toward his aunt; just to be sure she wasn't actually upset.

"You can sing, Auntie Paige." He appeased. "Our band doesn't have a singer. Wyatt tried, but he can't read good enough and we failed."

"What about your Uncle Henry?" Paige teased, "He doesn't want to be the singer?"

"Funny, Paige."

"Mommy says you're a good singer." Wyatt contributed.

"I don't think so." Paige said firmly, "I don't want to become one of you clowns; you haven't given it a rest since Henry bought this game two days ago."

"Wyatt!" Chris and Henry shouted simultaneously. The five-year-old's section of the screen blinked an ominous red before the signature, guitar-string-snapping sound reverberated through the speakers and the faux crowd booed.

"I'm sorry!" He said defensively. "It's hard."

Henry sighed and placed his guitar to one side as he stood up from the couch and greeted his wife properly.

"Hey baby." He smiled irresistibly.

"Hey yourself." She replied, giving him a quick, G-rated peck on the lips. "Are you enjoying your day off?"

"Hell yeah." He grinned.

"Can we play another one?" Wyatt asked, twirling on the spinning bar stool Henry had found for them to sit on while they played the drums.

"Only if your Aunt plays." Henry smirked.

"Please Auntie Paige?" Chris begged, "Please? It's soo much fun!"

"I said no." She sing-songed.

"Please?" Wyatt chimed.

"I love your voice." Henry whispered in her ear.

Paige shoved him away from her and placed her hands on her hips, recognizing a losing battle when she saw one.

This sucked.

* * *

"Orange button! Come on Henry, it's not there to look at!" Paige roared competitively during his solo.

"I'm playing on expert, Paige."

"So am I, and you don't see _me_ sucking at it."

"Singing is the easiest out of everything." Henry countered.

"Then why don't we trade?" She challenged.

Chris giggled as he bashed a drumstick against the yellow coloured symbol, having finally received his turn on the set. The banter between his Aunt and Uncle continued.

"Why do you even care? You said this game was stupid."

"That was before I realized it was the most awesome thing ever."

"You're missing the words, Auntie." Wyatt pointed out.

"Crap… _if anything could ever be this way again. The only thing I'll ever ask of you, you've got to promise not to stop when I say when-_

Paige, Chris and Wyatt all loudly vocalized their protest when Henry killed them moments before the end of the song.

"Ninety-nine percent completed." Paige scoffed in disbelief. "How does anyone fail at ninety-nine percent?"

"Uncle Henry, maybe you should pick beginner, like me and Wyatt." Chris suggested.

"I don't need to move down." Henry snapped.

After the next round, the words began to swim in front of Paige's eyes, and she gratefully hit pause when she heard the phone ring. Piper generally called just before dinner, and Paige didn't want her having a coronary because they were too busy screwing around to answer the phone. The manor might not survive a panic of those proportions.

"Hello?"

"Hey Paige."

Paige could hear the soft clicking of her sister's heels against the hardwood floor as she predictably paced back and forth in one of the hallways. Paige had always thought of herself as restless, but Piper couldn't sit still for two seconds when she was on the phone.

"Hey there explody." Paige greeted easily, "How's it going?"

"It's… going." Piper sighed. "I haven't destroyed anything by accident in awhile, so that's something, right?"

"I'd say it's a victory. Do you want me to get Wyatt and Chris?"

"No no." she dismissed, "I actually wanted to talk to you. I've talked to them twice already today; to be honest I don't think they would come if you called them. Apparently, I'm the only one doing any missing… they just wanted to go back to that Guitar Master game."

"It's Guitar _Hero_, Piper."

"It's killing their brain cells."

"You're just upset because your four and five year old sons are outgrowing you already." Paige teased.

"_You're_ just upset because they've become more enamoured of Henry than they are with you." Piper returned with a laugh. "I've heard three "Uncle Henry's" to every "Auntie Paige" in the last few days."

"Quiet you." Paige grumbled, "It's a temporary lead."

"Are you planning on being this competitive with your own children?"

"Very funny. I am so not starting that with you right now; what do you want?"

"I packed more clothes for Wyatt and Chris; Leo was supposed to bring them by, but he forgot and he's already at the club; it's my first night back and he's insisting on providing moral support. Anyway, the bags are just on the inside of the front door… how he left them there, I don't know. Pop over whenever you have a second and grab them. Put their worn things in the laundry room; I'll wash them when I get home."

Wyatt and Chris didn't need more clothes. In true Piper fashion, she had packed enough clothing for them to last a month, but keeping her hands busy kept Piper sane, so Paige wouldn't argue. If Leo had his way, the boys wouldn't be with her much longer anyway.

"Have I told you lately that you're the best sister ever?"

"Anything to avoid laundry, huh?"

Paige could all but see Piper rolling her eyes, and she grinned into the receiver. "You know it."

"Are you sure you're okay taking Wyatt to school tomorrow? Because I can send Leo over…"

"Don't be silly, it's fine. I'm off tomorrow; I'll take him and then hang out with Chris. Henry's working, so it'll be the cool Aunt's time to shine; I've got awesome things planned for us."

"Just keep that part on the down low before you drop off Wyatt; the two of them are in this phase–

"Piper, I know."

"And make sure you –

This time when Piper was cut off, it wasn't Paige's doing. She stifled a laugh as a door opened, letting the sound check of P3's guest band filter in for a moment before it closed and she heard Leo's muffled, impatient voice.

"… give me a minute." She heard Piper hiss, despite the hand smothering the microphone.

"Piper?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. Listen –

"No, _you_ listen." Paige interrupted, "Lady, you need to hang up the phone and go take care of your business. You worry about not blowing up your band, and I'll worry about my nephews' sibling rivalry. I can handle it; a girl learns fast with you and Phoebe for sisters."

"Hey!"

"Just go already!"

"Fine." She huffed.

"Thanks again, Paige." She heard Leo call over Piper's shoulder.

"You're welcome." She laughed.

There was more muffled conversation from the other end, and then the phone clicked mercifully in her ear, although whether the final act had been by Piper's hand or Leo's, Paige didn't know.

* * *

In no real hurry, Paige waited until after dinner to head to the manor. She had planned on simply taking thirty seconds to orb there and back, but mindful of the two young boys observing her every move, she opted to drive instead. The last thing she needed was Piper blaming her for the boys orbing outside the home as well as inside of it. In the end, she made the journey with Wyatt and Chris in tow while Henry stayed behind and cleaned the kitchen. Or, at least pretended to. The boys had made so many requests on her way out, it had seemed easier to just bring them along.

"Is mommy going to be home?" Chris asked, as they pulled into the driveway.

"No, she's at the club with your dad."

"Can we take a cookie before we go?" Wyatt jumped in.

"Of course."

The game of a hundred million questions had been going strong since Paige strapped them into the backseat, and she had realized she might as well save her breath, since, regardless of whether she delivered a long answer, or a short one, more questions followed just the same.

"Can we take two?"

"Hell yeah." She answered absently, nudging the car door shut with her hip.

"You're not supposed to say "hell," Auntie Paige."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Can we take three?"

"If you think you can eat three, take three." Paige shrugged. "We're going to be fast though, right guys? Go in, find your things, and get out."

"We know."

"I mean it."

"We _know_." They chorused dramatically.

Paige rolled her eyes and turned the key in the lock without further ado. Wyatt and Chris scampered ahead of her; Chris taking the stairs up to their bedroom, and Wyatt heading straight for the cookies he knew he would find in the kitchen. The bags were just inside the door; exactly where Piper had told her they would be, and she picked up the two tiny overnight bags before walking down the hall to toss the old clothes into the laundry room.

"Five minutes, guys!" She hollered.

Upstairs, Chris's face was scrunched up in concentration as he carefully selected the action figures and toy cars that had been most missed by Wyatt and himself in the days they had been gone. He scooted under the bottom bunk to reach the soccer ball that had rolled underneath it, and just as his fingers grazed the worn material, he froze.

_The witch's back is turned; their backs are always turned. They are so easily distracted by the details of their meaningless lives it is no small wonder that they continue to survive. Their guards are always down, they are always easily surprised and slow to act._

His breathing grew louder as he tried not to scream, but it was harder than last time. The last time, he could see his family the real way at the same time he saw them in the way everyone said wasn't real. But he was all by himself right now; he didn't know where his brother or his aunt were, and the only thing he could see outside of his room was the bad thing.

_As her body is half hidden inside the cupboard she is searching, the knife plunges into her back. There are other methods of attack, of course, but a knife seems particularly endearing given the trouble she and her family have caused. The boy can scream as much as he desires… there will be no help coming, and it will make finding him and killing him that much less work._

The petrified cry from the upper floor startled Paige, interrupting her raid on Piper's dryer sheets. She swore as she bumped her head on the top of the cupboard frame, and quickly threw herself to one side when she caught sight of the shadow – far too big to belong to one of her nephews – on the wall in her peripheral vision. She rolled her eyes when the demon clumsily fell forward and banged his head on the sink. She deftly kicked the knife out of his outstretched hand, and then caught him squarely in the face, knocking him unconscious. The entire ordeal was over in a matter of seconds, but Chris continued to scream upstairs.

Paige released an angry breath and gave the demon at her feet another kick for good measure. Stupid son of a bitch. These demonic inconveniences were going to drive them all mad sooner rather than later; especially when every single one, no matter how minor, inspired a full fledged freak out from Chris. Attempts to shield him from demon contact were failing; maybe it was time they made an effort to help Chris get a hold of his power instead.

She felt Wyatt orb from somewhere in the house, and soon afterwards, Chris finally stopped screaming. She stared at the unconscious demon with disdain, and with a wave of her arm, she sent him to the attic floor.

She ran up the stairs with her plan only half completed in her mind, and heard Wyatt's frantic voice coming from his bedroom as she raced past.

"Auntie Paige?"

"One second bud. I'll be right back."

"But-

"One sec."

When she reached the attic, the demon was just coming to. Without wasting any further time, she sent the crystals on the nearby shelf toward him, calling for them in a way she had long since outgrown, but occasionally did out of old habit when there were too many things going through her mind.

"Crystals, circle!"

The demon, lower level and hardly threatening by the look of him, howled in rage when he received the expected jolt after testing the limits of the cage.

Just as she expected, the screaming downstairs began anew, and Wyatt began calling her name with increasing panic.

She took a deep breath, and prepared herself for what she was going to do.

* * *

"Aunt Paige! Aunt Paige Aunt Paige Aunt Paige!"

"I'm right here." Paige responded calmly as she orbed into the bedroom.

Chris was curled into a ball on the floor, his eyes squeezed tight and his hands clapped over his ears, while Wyatt sat vigilantly by his side and tried to shake him back to their reality.

Wyatt looked almost as terrified as Chris, and Paige sat on the floor between the two of them and pulled Wyatt into her lap, kissing the top of his head reassuringly. "He's okay, Wyatt. We're going to help him."

Wyatt furrowed his eyebrows in uncertainty, but he relaxed slightly in his Aunt's grip; he could trust her to make things right almost as easily as he trusted his parents. Chris murmured something unintelligible into the carpet, and she pulled gently on his arm.

"Chris, I need you to look at me, honey."

Chris shook his head, but he took his hands away from his ears and gripped her hand as if their lives depended on it. In his mind, they probably did.

"We're going to do something scary, but I'm going to be with you the whole time; it's really important that you remember that part. Whatever happens, whatever you hear, you're going to be safe. So will Wyatt and myself."

He unscrewed his eyes, and turned pained, bright green irises to her own compassionate brown ones. "I don't want to." He whispered.

"I know you don't. I know you're scared, but you have to trust me. You trust your Auntie Paige, right? You know I love you… even if you're a turkey sometimes. I would never let anything bad happen to us."

"He's upstairs."

"I know."

"He's going to get out, Auntie Paige. He's going to get out and then he's going to-

"He's not going anywhere." Paige said forcefully. "Who do you think is stronger, your Aunt Paige, or some stupid demon?"

Chris paused; a few weeks ago, he would have answered without hesitation. He had seen the powers of his Mother and Aunts in action, and it had always been near impossible for him to conceive of something more powerful. But recently, seeing firsthand the confidence of the demons that so often plagued their lives, the violence and inhumanity of their thoughts… it wasn't nearly as simple to maintain the absolute faith he used to hold in his protectors as it had once been.

Paige shifted Wyatt's weight to one side and pulled Chris comfortingly into her other, displaying a kind of patience and boundless love only those closest to her wouldn't have been surprised to see.

"Trust me, Chris. You've always trusted your mom and your dad and me and Phoebe to keep you safe before; none of that has changed."

Chris seemed to be on the brink of accepting this, but then he cringed, probably in accordance with a new assault on the cage, care of the demon upstairs.

He turned hopeful eyes Paige's way, caught between believing her capable of fixing anything, and his awful fear of the things he saw. He was never quite sure which version of his mind's eye was the true reality anymore.

Paige placed one last loving kiss on his cheek before orbing them into the attic. Chris, however, was not quite ready to give in; Paige was shocked to feel her body, still in contact with both boys, beginning to pull in another direction. Immediately recognizing Chris's attempt at the orb within an orb, she set them back on course with record breaking speed. When they came together in the attic, she watched the hopeful look in Chris's eyes fall as he realized he had ended up in the attic in spite of his best efforts.

The kid learned fast; she had to give him that. The orbing game hadn't been going on too long, and while it was miss far more often than it was hit, he had almost pulled it off when he most wanted. It was that exact quality she was hoping would carry him through the next few hours. If this didn't work, it was going to make things worse; and then Piper and Leo would kill her.

She, Piper, and Phoebe had all doggedly suffered through their power advancements as adults, but Chris was young and moldable. As a child, he could probably capture in a matter of hours the same control that was taking Piper days.

Chris squeezed her arm so hard he broke the skin, and Paige bit her lip against the discomfort as tiny dots of blood began to well up in the pint sized wounds.

"Auntie Paige he's killing you again." He whispered fiercely.

"He's not, Chris." Paige contradicted gently. "Look at me. Look at my face."

Chris tried to follow her instructions, to concentrate, and slowly, the haze around her began to clear, and he could almost, almost-

_I will tear them apart. I will set fire to their skin and laugh as they burn._

And then it was gone. Then Paige was screaming and he was crying and everything was murky again.

Paige pursed her lips in deep thought, trying to push past the disappointment and doubt that was fast replacing the determination she had possessed only minutes before. He had been close that time; she could feel it. He just hadn't quite been able hold on. It was frustrating; this was the kind of demon he would have never thought to flinch from before… him and Wyatt would have been trying to investigate up close, and she, Phoebe, Piper and Leo would have been pulling him back with their hearts in their throats as he laughed. Maybe she didn't want to restore him to quite that level of security, but there had to be a balance. There had to be a way to convince him that ultimately, nothing had changed.

Her eyes fell on the box containing the tiny, shell-like arsenals they used when interrogating demons, and a vindictive smile settled on her lips. Torturing demons was pretty high up there on her list of favourite past-times. Suddenly the answer was simple; they had been approaching this situation from the wrong direction. Chris and Wyatt had both concluded, based on what they had seen her and her sisters do, that demons feared them. That standing up against the Charmed Ones was suicide. That, as children, protected by the Charmed Ones, they were untouchable; demons wouldn't risk inspiring the wrath of their family by harming them. She could remind Chris of this. She could make the demon beg. She could unveil to Chris the world of fear his family instilled in the demonic community, and she could blow off a little steam in the process.

She jumped up from the floor and ran over to the shelf, ignoring Chris's mewl of protest.

Paige the doting aunt took a backseat to Paige the cold warrior.

She flipped the box open and removed a handful of pellets, standing with her feet shoulder's width apart before the cage.

The demon eyed her warily, his gaze darting uncertainly between her imposing stance, and the two children huddled on the floor behind her. Paige stood silently and waited for him to make a decision.

He made the wrong one.

The demon hurled himself violently against the cage and Paige remorselessly threw one of the shells against it. He screamed in agony, hit simultaneously with the combined force of the electric cage and the additional witch magic thrown against it.

Paige heard Chris's breathing grow heavier, but she didn't turn around. She threw six more shells against the structure in quick succession, smirking as she watched the blind rage in the demon's face fall to frantic, animalistic fear.

"Why are you here?" She asked coolly.

"I don't answer to you, witch." He spat.

Paige shrugged and threw three more pieces against the cage, and another for good measure even after the demon had already crumpled pathetically to the floor.

"Does that hurt?" She crooned darkly, "I'm sorry. I wonder, what do you think would happen if I threw more than a couple of these at one time?"

She tossed the remainder of her handful against the cage, confident that there was just under enough firepower in it to accidentally vanquish him.

He shrieked again, and gone was the confident, albeit moronic, evil being she had encountered downstairs. In his place lay a slobbering, quivering mess of filthy skin and clothes trapped like a household rodent in a cage.

Wyatt was so shocked by Paige's behaviour he forgot all about his fear and concern for his brother, and he looked on with morbid fascination. He had seen vanquishes before; he had even participated in a few, much to his parents' distress, but never before had he seen this. Aunt Paige was scary; she was almost as scary as Piper had been that time he used his magic at the playground in front of that stupid girl who stole his swing.

"Do you feel like talking yet?" Paige asked sweetly.

"I don't know anything." The demon yelled, "I was sent to watch the house. You weren't supposed to be home."

"Sent by whom?"

He hesitated a fraction of a second too long, and Paige threw a new round of arsenal against the cage.

"Who sent you?"

Twice more this process of questioning and torturing continued.

"He'll kill me if he finds out."

"I'll kill you right now." Paige promised.

Instead of resuming her attack, this time when he hesitated, Paige returned her attention to her nephews and gauged Chris's reaction. His face was ashen, but he was sporting the same confused expression she had seen across his face a few weeks ago, when seeing the healing glow emanating from her hands had contradicted his belief that Piper had died. Confusion was good; it was better than terror, anyway.

The demon seemed to be regrouping, and Paige swiftly switched back her focus; she was on shaky ground. Piper was very particular about minimizing the boys' exposure to demon fighting – something about it being hypocritical to tell them not to hit each other if they watched her kill things – and she was going to be pissed enough as it was. If Paige screwed this up, her sister would never forgive her.

Chris broke the silence with a murmur to Wyatt in what Paige supposed he believed to be a confidential whisper.

"He's scared."

The surprise in Chris's tone was palpable, and Paige hid a proud smile. It was working; perhaps Piper and Leo would let her live after all… she had been concerned for a moment there.

_Tell her. Don't tell her. If you speak now, you can run and return when they've killed Lisgav. They __**will**__ kill Lisgav; you've always known it; they always win. Somehow they always win. But what if—oh for the love of all that is evil, at least stall before that cursed bitch begins again._

The demon was afraid. He was more afraid of Paige than he was of the demon that had sent him here in the first place.

"He's scared." Chris repeated, louder this time.

_How dare he mock me! Riding the coattails of the charmed Ones; I'll bet he thinks himself powerful._

_Lisgav finds the boy cowering near the swiftly cooling bodies of his family, then lifts him and shimmers to the underground, where he will be killed for his convenient gift._

Chris saw the images flash before him like film, but the haze that had before so almost completely consumed both pictures, was significantly clearer. And with the thick haze went the excruciating pain that had come with it as his mind struggled between the views. They had been muted somehow… the voice in his head stopped screaming and he could clearly see his Aunt in front of him, and suddenly the threats and fantasies seemed ridiculous; this demon couldn't even figure out a way to break through a little cage.

Piper's Bounty Hunter vanquish of weeks before hadn't made much of an impression on Chris at the time; he had been too distracted by the presence of the second voice. But now, the event popped into his head and he reviewed the memory with a vision no longer clouded by fear. He saw it the way Wyatt had seen it that day; the way he himself would have seen it a week prior. The demon hadn't stood a chance. His mother had reduced him to nothing but a blackened mark on their floor without even trying. His dad had been forced to replace all the windows because _his mom_ was so powerful, and so mad at the demon, she had completely destroyed the old ones.

Paige grinned triumphantly as she watched Chris peer intently at the demon in the cage. She knelt down in front of him and whispered softly, mindful of the enemy listening a few feet away.

"Can you hear him?"

Chris hesitated ever so slightly, and then nodded.

"Do you know what he was doing here? Why he came?"

Again, Chris nodded.

"Would it be okay if you told me about it later? Would that make you upset?"

He wasn't paying attention to her anymore; one look at his face told her that. Instead he was staring at the demon with a timid curiosity that let her see a shadow of the old Chris; the one who had snuck around with Wyatt trying to observe demon vanquishes with no concept of the danger they posed. Perhaps he would never again find that childish fearlessness, but the curiosity was back, and as exasperating as it sometimes was, it was a part of her nephew Paige would have greatly missed.

"Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think you could tell me what he's been thinking when we get back to my place?" She repeated.

"Okay."

"Can we rent a movie?" Wyatt asked.

"Can you two agree on one without killing each other?"

Wyatt and Chris looked at one another, and then they nodded their heads.

"Alright." She smiled.

Paige stood and once again ambled to her offensive position in front of the cage. Enough was enough. Her little demonstration had served its purpose.

"I guess I really don't need you anymore."

The demon's eyes widened in panic, "Wait; I can help you."

"No… no I don't think so."

She strolled to the shelves and nonchalantly selected an athame.

"Wyatt, Chris; go finish packing your things."

"We want to see." Wyatt whined.

"I mean it guys. Get a move on."

Paige waited until she could no longer hear their loud footsteps in the hall. Then she turned back to the cage and hurled the athame forward.

* * *

_I know it was kind of slow, but it was also necessary. So bear with me a chapter or two longer :) ._


	8. Chapter 8

Good news? We're sitting at around the halfway point for this story. More good news? There are about two more chapters to go after this before we hit a lot of the stuff I've had written forever, so the updates will be lightning quick after that for a good four chapters or so. Not so good news? I have five papers and three midterms to do in the next two weeks, and because of this, following this chapter the next update might take awhile. I know I've said that before, but my passing this semester is dependent on me meaning it this time, haha.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

It was almost ten o'clock when Paige pulled into the parking lot, although it felt much later. As she put the car in park she did her best to run a mental checklist on the condition of the attic; if there was so much as a single crystal out of place, there was no doubt in her mind Piper would know she had been up there. It may have been cowardly, but she wanted Piper to see Chris, happy, and in control, before she let her know what had gone on within those walls earlier that evening. The book of shadows had been left on the stand, closed, the way it had been when she had first gone up there. The crystals had been put back on the shelf along with the shells, and the athame… she paused and then let out a deep sigh. The athame had been left on the table, where she had rested it while she took apart the crystal cage. No matter; Piper was working tonight. The odds were unlikely that she would travel to the attic for any reason after returning home, and Paige could simply orb in and out before the boys woke up the next morning. It was no big deal; she could handle this.

She peeked in the rear view mirror and smiled, as she could never help but doing, at the sight of her two nephews sound asleep in the backseat. They really were troopers. They seemed happy enough to stay with her, but she couldn't keep herself from wondering how long it would be before Guitar Hero and ice-cream lost their novelty, and they just wanted to go home to Piper and Leo. She really, _really_ hoped that Piper got a hold of her power before that happened, because Chris and Wyatt… _especially _Wyatt, knew exactly how to make everyone around them miserable when they were so inclined. She wasn't particularly enthused for that headache.

"We're home guys."

Chris lifted his head sleepily and slowly rubbed his eyes, "We forgot the movie."

Paige laughed and walked around the car to open his door, "I think we're all a little too tired for a movie tonight, sweetie. Besides, Wyatt has school tomorrow, remember?"

"I wish Wy only went to school on days I have to go to school." Chris lamented forlornly.

"Don't stress about it. You and I are going to have fun tomorrow; you'll see."

"What are we doing?"

"It's a surprise. You're going to love it."

Chris's eyes lit up, but then he frowned and thoughtfully chewed his bottom lip, "Shouldn't we wait until we get Wyatt, then? He'll be sad if we have fun without him."

Paige smiled at his consideration, "Don't worry about that. I've got something planned for after we pick up Wyatt as well."

Chris nodded his head in satisfaction and then jumped down to the pavement.

"Wake up Wyatt!" He called loudly.

"Shhh, honey that wasn't very nice."

"What'd I do?"

Paige rolled her eyes and decided to leave well enough alone as Wyatt stretched and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Never mind. Come on."

Wyatt and Chris both dawdled when they walked, and unfortunately they could never wander in the same direction. She had, on more than one occasion, temporarily lost one child or the other while running errands; another fact she would never tell Piper. In her defense, it _was _incredibly difficult to keep them both on the same path; they were wily without even trying to be. As she prodded Wyatt along, she turned to look behind her and urge Chris forward. She loved her nephews, but honestly, five minutes to get from the parking lot to the building was borderline ridiculous.

"Dude, do you think you can pick up the pace a little bit?"

Chris heaved a sigh, but he obediently hurried to take her outstretched hand. When they finally entered the apartment, Henry had the phone in his hand, and he looked to be about halfway through dialing a number. Paige's number.

"Hey." He greeted slowly. "Where have you guys been?"

"Don't even ask." Paige replied tiredly. She dropped the bags in her hands on the table and rifled through them for the boys' pyjamas; conveniently, Piper had packed in a way that left the pyjamas sitting right at the top. Paige didn't know why she was even remotely surprised… she was willing to bet that once she removed them, she would find school clothes for Wyatt sitting directly beneath.

She tossed the nightwear in Wyatt and Chris's direction, "Get dressed for bed. I'll make you hot chocolate if you hurry."

When they disappeared down the hallway, Paige dropped the backpack behind the couch and joined Henry in the kitchen. He was filling the sink with soapy water, and she couldn't help but shake her head. They had left the apartment two hours earlier; how was it even possible he hadn't started yet? It occurred to her to offer her help at the same time it occurred to Henry that she was most likely going to, and they stared at each other for a moment before speaking simultaneously.

"I'll wash!" They shouted.

The staring continued until Paige finally laughed. "Okay, fine; I'll flip a coin."

"Uh uh. Somehow, I don't know how…" he glared at her, his eyes full of suspicion, "…whenever you toss a coin, you always win."

"You're being paranoid." She answered aloofly, "It's a fifty-fifty shot; you're just not any good at calling it."

"Well in that case, maybe you should call it this time, and I'll flip." Henry offered nonchalantly.

She paused.

"Unless," He continued, "there's a reason you don't want to?"

"Oh alright." Paige huffed.

She reluctantly handed Henry the coin, and she wished for the millionth time that her magic didn't encircle everything she moved in bright lights. Henry was slow upon occasion, but somehow she didn't think she would get away with switching the sides while he watched the coin so intensely.

"Call it." He challenged.

"Heads."

He removed the hand shielding the face of the coin from her view, and revealed a silver eagle.

"Damn it!"

"Grab a dish towel, sweetheart." Henry gloated.

"You suck."

"And you cheat." He retorted.

The towel wasn't hanging in its usual spot on the oven door handle, but when Paige went to pull a new one from the kitchen drawer, it was empty.

"Where are all the cloths?"

"Huh? Oh, Chris dropped a milk carton this morning. They're all in the hamper."

"Soo when I asked you earlier if there was anything else that needed to be thrown in the wash, you didn't mention that because…?"

He gave her his most charming smile. "Have you noticed we've been a lot snippier with each other since Wyatt and Chris have been here? Strange."

"Don't change the subject. But, if you really want to know, it's because of sex."

"What?" Henry smirked, "That's ridiculous."

"No it's not." Paige insisted, absently searching the other drawers for a stray tea towel. "Usually when I forget to change the garbage bag, or you forget to put a new roll of toilet paper in, or anything else petty and stupid, we fight about it, end up having sex, and then it's forgotten until next time."

Henry paused, scrubpad in hand. "Wow. That's kind of sad."

"It's a perfectly functional system. A system which I, by the way, am not the one screwing up right now." She sing-songed.

"Paige." He rolled his eyes, "What do you want from me? It's just too awkward with kids in the house."

"Oh please." Paige scoffed, "It's sure as hell not a problem for their parents; I don't see why it has to be one for us."

He shook his head, "I'm going to be honest and just say that I'm scared of Piper. I'm scared of what Piper would do to me if Wyatt or Chris walked in on us."

"You're scared of my sister?" Paige laughed.

"Hey," Henry began defensively, "That 'fear of castration' Freud was always going on about? It's very real. And knowing your sister can blow off whatever piece of me she so chooses with a weird little wave of her hand? It doesn't do much to ease it."

"She'd understand. She'd be a little pissed… but she'd understand. I mean, one time, Wyatt opened their bathroom door right when they were-

"Stop!" Henry clapped his hands over his ears, "I don't want to think about your sister and- ew. Damn it, Paige!"

She laughed and nimbly stood on her tip toes, reaching into the cupboard high above her head and finally locating a dish towel.

"This other time-

"You're falling behind." He said, pointedly looking at the stack of dishes accumulating in the draining bin.

"Can we help?"

Wyatt and Chris stood in the kitchen doorway; they had followed her instructions and donned their pyjamas, even if Chris did happen to have his inside out.

"Sure!" Paige answered. She lifted her nephew onto the counter and handed him the cloth without once actually drying a dish herself, smirking at Henry as she did so. "You can dry. I'll start on the hot chocolate. Are you still okay to talk with me a little bit later about the attic?"

Chris hesitated a second, and then he nodded his head.

She smiled and tousled his hair. "Good boy. Wy, do you want to check and make sure we have marshmallows?"

"'Kay." He agreed.

"What were you doing in the attic? _When_ were you in the attic?" Henry frowned.

"Demon stuff. Don't worry about it."

"Auntie Paige? I can't see them."

"Bottom shelf, sweetie."

"There were demons at the manor just now?" Henry asked, mildly irritated at the way she hadn't even thought it worth mentioning when she first came home.

"This one's too heavy." Chris complained, pointing to the casserole dish he had unsuccessfully tried to lift.

"Just do the cups. I'll help you with everything else in a second."

"Paige!"

"What?" She asked, puzzled by the frank annoyance in his voice.

"There was a demon at the manor."

"Yeah I know, I just said that." She replied blankly.

"Where did you leave Wyatt and Chris?"

"Chris helped." Wyatt stated proudly.

Paige returned his smile until the judgemental gaze from her husband caught her attention. _What was his problem?_

"Is being magical and old enough to spell your name the only pre-requisites for demon fighting nowadays?"

Paige's eyes flashed, but Chris responded before she could.

"I can spell other things too, Uncle Henry." He contributed helpfully. "Like m-o-m, and d-a-d, and n-o, and y-e-s, and-

"That's really good, buddy." Henry cut in.

Chris beamed at the praise, superficial as it was, and carefully dried the water off a tea cup.

"Be very careful, Henry." She threatened quietly, mindful of their audience.

Henry gave a perturbed shake of his head, but he dropped the subject nevertheless.

* * *

Paige sipped her tea thoughtfully as she kept an absent ear attuned to the bedroom where Chris and Wyatt were exhausting their last five minutes of playtime before bed. Talking to Chris had been next to useless; apparently the demon hadn't been lying when he said he didn't know anything. While he _had_ been there to kill them, all Chris had been able to see was another demon telling him to wait at the house until someone came home, and then to attack with all the strength he had. She couldn't quite put her finger on the piece of the puzzle her and her sisters were missing; Piper had told her that lower level demons had been attacking the manor like they were never going to get the chance to again. There had to be a logical explanation behind all the kamikaze attacks. Maybe she could pop back over and study the book for a little while after the boys were asleep.

She glanced at her watch and reluctantly set her mug on the table. By the time she entered the bedroom, Henry had already settled the boys into the double bed.

"…can we get one for Christmas, maybe?" Wyatt was asking.

"I don't think so… maybe when you're a little older."

He noticed Paige hovering in the doorway, and immediately stood up from the mattress.

"See you tomorrow boys."

"Are you taking me to school?"

Henry shook his head, "No bud, Aunt Paige is going to take you; I've got to work tomorrow. I'll see you when I get back?"

Wyatt and Chris nodded sleepily.

"Alright. Night."

He adjusted the comforter around their necks one more time, and stepped cordially around Paige before leaving the room. She couldn't quite pinpoint which was worse; Piper's cold shoulder when she was upset, or Henry's over-politeness.

"Goodnight guys." Paige smiled softly.

"Auntie Paige?" Chris yawned.

"Yeah buddy."

"Uncle Henry's mad."

"Yeah… I noticed."

"Uncle Henry doesn't ever get mad. Not ever."

"So you think." Paige responded wryly. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Get some sleep."

Chris allowed his eyes to drift shut with a smile on his lips.

"I love you, trouble." Paige said, planting a kiss on his forehead, and brushing the hair out of Wyatt's face. Already, the older boy was too deep in sleep to react to her touch. She gave the blankets one last tug beneath her nephews' chins before heading toward the hall.

"Love you too." Chris murmured as she flicked off the lights.

She smiled and left the door open a crack before heading to her own bedroom.

* * *

"Hey." Paige greeted Henry casually.

"Hi." He answered evenly.

He was still angry. Well that was just fine; she could head to the manor to get some real work done, and he could sulk in peace. It was a win situation for both parties.

"I left the attic a little out of order earlier." She began, "I'm going to go put everything back in its place and check a few things out in the book. Be back in a few hours?"

"Do whatever you want, Paige." He muttered, "You always do."

"I heard that."

"Makes sense; considering how I made no effort to hide it."

Paige was tempted to simply orb out and leave things exactly as they had fallen, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't leave without knowing what had caused his sudden hostile mood.

"Something's obviously bothering you; spitting it out would be nice." She snapped.

"What happened at the manor tonight?"

Paige crossed her arms defensively across her chest. So they were back to this.

"The boys were getting some things together and a demon attacked – lower level, but he scared Chris anyway – so I took the demon to the attic to try and figure out how he fit in with the recent attacks at the manor."

"And what were Wyatt and Chris doing up there?"

Her eyes narrowed and she moved her hands to settle on her hips, "I'm not one of your parolees; I'm your wife. Don't interrogate me."

Henry too, rose from his seat and took his own confrontational stance. "I'm sorry. I know I don't get a say in anything magical, but I don't think you should be exploiting a four year old kid just to make your little torture session easier."

"_Exploit_? How dare you assume that any of it was for my own benefit. I was doing it for Chris, you idiot. I was helping him get a little bit of control over himself. He handled it just fine, by the way."

"Well as long as he handled his _magic_ just fine." Henry retorted sarcastically, "Never mind the fact that he's a very young, human kid. I forgot; his magic is the most important thing."

"Where do you get off talking about any of this like you understand it?"

"Would you do the same with our kids?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Our kids."

"What kids?" She exclaimed, "Henry, I did a _good_ thing tonight because I was tired of seeing my nephew terrified of things he had never been afraid of before. Why are you attacking me?"

"You put him in danger. You put both of them in danger. I know you can't change who you are, _what_ you are, but I've always seen Piper and Leo go to great lengths to keep them sheltered, for now anyway, and that made sense to me. I can't get my head around you letting them sit through something like that. And I want to know if that's something you would be willing to do with our own kids as well."

"Would I do everything within my power to help them control theirs? Would I help them accept themselves and their gifts? Teach them to embrace their destinies? Would I be willing do all these things and more with the many hypothetical kids we're apparently having? You bet your ass I would."

Henry looked as if he planned on continuing the argument, but in the end, he rubbed a hand across his face and decided he was really too tired to have it out with her right then. If only he had thought of that before he opened his mouth in the first place.

"I think I'm just going to sleep out on the couch tonight."

"Don't bother." She snapped. She snatched her purse up from the chair in the corner of the room and threw it over her shoulder. "I'm staying at my sister's."

Henry watched her disappear before his eyes, and he cursed the supernatural gifts that always, _always_ gave her the last word. That hadn't gone the way he had planned it; not even remotely. He should have just left the whole thing between Paige, Piper and Leo. He accepted Paige, he accepted her heritage, and he had thought he understood and accepted that it was possible, probable, any children they had would inherit similar talents. What he had never really considered was the fact that the kids would have powers for a reason; that eventually he would have to sit back, off the field, and watch as his children fought monsters alongside his wife on the frontline.

In the two and a half years he had been with Paige, he had spent so much time around supernatural acts, around people who had come to view those acts as commonplace, he too had become accustomed to their extraordinary lives. He thought nothing of the orbing. He wasn't fazed when he went from talking in a room with Paige and her sisters, to having a conversation with himself in what seemed to be the blink of any eye, but was really five minutes later. He knew instinctively which way to move in order to avoid getting smacked in the face by things Chris got a kick out of zooming across the room. While in the beginning, a few close calls had taught him to maintain a respectful fear of the supernatural, the calm years following those early days had taken their toll on his memories. He had reached a point where he viewed their powers not as battle weapons but as extra conveniences for everyday life, because until recently, that was the natural way he had seen them used.

After Piper brought back Phoebe and Paige, demon attacks had become few and far between. Any given day, Paige used her powers to pop in and out of places quickly, Phoebe used hers to annoyingly extract secrets and feelings if you weren't talking about them quickly enough for her liking, and Piper automatically used her gifts to save tablecloths from wine spills and dishes from breaking. In these last few weeks, he had been watching all of them, even Leo, unravel a little bit at a time, and now that he had been reminded their powers weren't given to them just to be used for cool parlour tricks, he was conflicted.

With no presence outside of his own in the bedroom, it wasn't long before the guilt that so often belatedly accompanies an argument began to seep in. Paige was right; he was an idiot. Accusing her of willing endangering the nephews he knew she probably loved more than she loved him had been a bad way to begin. After a few more minutes of deliberation, he sighed and picked up the phone. Maybe he could convince her to come back home.

Or not.

From somewhere in the apartment, the soft strains of some old The Doors song let him know that in her haste, Paige had left her cell phone behind. He tried the manor next, but when the answering machine picked up, he ended the call. He checked his watch and decided against phoning Phoebe and Coop, on the off chance Laura had actually, for once, fallen asleep at a decent hour, and then he looked at the ceiling.

"Paige?" He called hopefully.

Familiar lights twinkled before him, and he was surprised by how quickly, how willingly, she responded.

...That was, until instead of a living, breathing being, a single torn sheet of scrap paper floated to the floor instead.

Curiously, he leaned down to retrieve it, and then frowned.

_Bite Me._

Well that answered that.

He heard the door down the hall creep open, and when he went to investigate he found Wyatt standing in the hallway.

"You, are supposed to be in bed." He chastised lightly, "What are you doing up?"

Wyatt shrugged his shoulders and covered a yawn, "Chris kicked me and it woke me up. I wanted to get some water. Why is Paige at Aunt Phoebe's house?"

Henry came close to asking how he could possibly know that, and then he remembered the power that lay behind the deceptively young face. Of course Wyatt would know where Paige was.

"They're having a sleepover tonight."

"Why didn't they take us?" Wyatt frowned.

"It's a girl sleepover." Henry answered quickly; there was no faster way to put Wyatt off a subject than to bring up the opposite sex.

"Oh."

Henry poured some water into a blue plastic cup and handed it to the little boy.

"Not too much."

Wyatt nodded and took a few grateful sips.

"Thank you." He said politely.

"No problem." Henry responded. "Now back to bed. Don't give your aunt any problems tomorrow with getting you up and ready, okay?"

Wyatt nodded again. "Goodnight."

"Night."

Henry smiled watching Wyatt easily slip through the narrow crack between the door and the wall, and then he returned to his own bedroom.

"Paige? Come on." He pleaded.

This time, there was no answer at all.

* * *

Paige woke to the irritating sound of the DVD title menu music looping repeatedly. Dazed, she sat up slowly and sighed. Leave it to Phoebe to wake up, stumble to her own bed, and not even bother to turn off the television.

She pushed her hair out of her face and reluctantly left the warmth of the comforter to remove the movie from the DVD player. By the time she had snapped the case shut and hit the power button, she was wide awake.

Phoebe's pull-out couch was amazing; almost better than her own real bed. She hadn't even realized she was tired when Phoebe – under emphatic protest – put down her copy of Kill it Before it Dies, and picked up The Princess Bride instead.

Coop had busied himself with Laura while Paige had vented to Phoebe, and by the time Wesley successfully guided himself and Buttercup through the Fire Swamp, Paige had finally run out of explicit words to use in place of her husband's given name.

"_I mean really, who the hell does he think he is? Questioning the way I do my job, both as an Aunt, and as a witch. I've been doing this for almost eight years, you jackass."_

"_You didn't do anything wrong, Paige." Phoebe assured. "Piper will be grateful. She knows how much you love Chris. You need to give Henry a break though; he's the only one of us who is entirely new to the idea of magic… I mean, yeah, Leo's technically mortal now, but he's been around forever, nothing shocks him. Henry's still a baby."_

"_Baby is right." Paige muttered._

"_You know that's not what I meant."_

She cringed in discomfort when she suddenly heard Henry's voice in her head again, and a glance at her watch told her the time was past four in the morning. Why was he even awake? He called again and she rubbed her temples; he wouldn't shout like that if he had even the faintest idea of what it did to her. What part of, 'in emergencies only' did he not understand? She could hear him just fine without all the yelling.

Maybe Phoebe had a point; there were a lot of things Henry didn't understand yet… and none of them ever really thought to explain. What Henry had learned so far, he had picked up through his own observations. Teaching magic was difficult; looking back now, she could only understand Piper's frequent impatience with her too well… taking the time to give a mortal like Henry a detailed education would be twice as draining, and it wasn't like he would be helping them fight evil afterwards. It may be unfair, but so were a lot of things in their lives, and Henry was just going to have to accept it.

And he was going to have to learn to trust her judgement, because there was no way she would put up with more allegations of intentionally endangering the children of this family.

A door opened, and then Coop wandered into the living room. He stopped short when he saw Paige sitting alertly in the armchair.

"Sorry." He stuttered awkwardly, "I came to turn off the light… Phoebe usually forgets… I didn't think you would still be awake."

Paige gave him an equally awkward smile. Coop was fine when the entire clan was together, but it was too weird trying to maintain a conversation between just the two of them. She cradled her head in her hands when Henry made another plaintive cry for her attention.

"Are you alright?" Coop asked, stepping further into the room.

"No." Paige complained, "My husband is giving me a headache."

He walked over to the sofa and sat on the edge of the mattress.

"Do you feel like talking?"

Paige couldn't keep herself from glaring at him. "No thanks." She smirked, "The last time I asked for your cupid-esque help, you were kind of an asshole about it."

She was too exhausted, and in far too much pain to try and be diplomatic. She didn't have to watch her tone with anyone else in this family, and Coop was a part of it whether he wanted to be or not.

Coop winced and ran a hand over his face, "I guess I deserved that."

"Yeah." She agreed. "You totally did."

"I was under a lot of stress then, Paige."

"We all were."

"I didn't mean what I said… not the way that it came out, anyway."

"It's fine, Coop. Really. I mean it was almost three years ago. I shouldn't have said anything."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence while the clock on the wall ticked obnoxiously in their ears. Paige wished she had just gone to the club instead of coming here. She hadn't wanted to distract Piper on her first day back, but things were never this awkward around Leo. She watched him stare at his hands from his position on the mattress, and she sighed. He didn't look like he was going to leave any time soon, and she didn't know how much more of this thick quiet she could take. When she looked at the clock again, she suddenly remembered Wyatt.

"Damn it." She swore.

"What?" Coop jumped on the opportunity to get her talking again.

Paige gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Nothing. I just remembered I have to take Wyatt to school for eight thirty tomorrow. I completely forgot."

"You're really good with them." Coop said softly, "Laura too. You're going to make a great mom someday."

Paige paused, "Just because I can handle _other_ people's kids doesn't mean I could manage my own."

"I didn't mean right now… I was just saying."

Her conscience, at some point over the years, had adopted Leo's voice. And at that minute, she heard it loud and clear, in his exasperatingly patient tone, telling her to give Coop a break. To make an effort. Begrudgingly, she listened. It was hard to say no to Leo even when he was just a manifestation in her own crazy imagination. She would give Coop a chance… but if he screwed up, she wasn't going to try again.

"Piper's always been maternal… from what I've gathered from Phoebe, even when Prue was alive Piper was the typical "mom" type. And Phoebe? Well, I used to think Phoebe and I were alike, but she changed too, and kids were all she could think about long before she even met you. No offense to your wife, but I don't want to be like that."

"You are who you are, Paige. No one expects anything else."

She rolled her eyes, "Tell that to Henry. He's been on this baby kick recently; I thought he was kidding before, but now I'm not so sure. It's like he thinks because he watches yours and Piper's kids every once in awhile, he's got it all figured out. He has no idea how hard it is; I've watched that 'first child adjustment' thing twice. Piper and Leo nearly killed each other, and you two weren't much better."

"I think we might have been a _little_ better." Coop tried.

Paige quirked an eyebrow; like he would know. She chose, however, not to point that out.

"Yeah… not so much." She said instead. "Besides, we haven't even reached a point in our relationship where we can settle small arguments with something besides sex. We should probably graduate past that before having a child; I mean, Wyatt and Chris have only been around a couple weeks, and the fact that Henry can't exactly take me on the kitchen table is already affecting our tempers."

Coop cringed. "Gross. Paige, I've eaten off that table."

"So?" She couldn't resist, "You've eaten off Piper and Leo's too."

"What does that have to do with… oh. Oh gross." He repeated. "Why? Why would you tell me that?"

Paige laughed, and she was slightly surprised to see there was nothing forced, or uncomfortable about it. Maybe there was hope for Coop after all.

* * *

Leo laughed out loud as Piper practically skipped up the front steps of the manor; four o'clock in the morning, and she was still going strong. Not maiming anyone in her club had done wonders for her confidence.

"I'm so proud of you." He said, pushing the front door closed.

"I'm proud of me too." She responded happily. "Watch this!"

And that was the last thing Leo heard her say. As usual, at first, he wasn't aware that any time had passed; but it only took him a second to process that Piper was no longer standing in front of him. According to his wristwatch, six minutes had gone by.

He rolled his eyes and jogged up the stairs, and then he followed the sound of running water to their bathroom. Piper was washing away the club grime. He silently opened the door, instantly struck by the heat and the steam, and just as silently he shed his own clothes.

She yelped and let out a short laugh when his wandering hands caught her by surprise.

"You can be such a brat." He murmured.

"Did you like how I managed to not blow you up? Not even a little bit?"

"I _especially_ liked that part." He smiled. "Did you unfreeze me, or did it wear off?"

"I unfroze you." Piper stated proudly.

"Nice work."

She grinned ecstatically and threw her arms around his neck, elevating herself on her tip-toes to kiss his mouth.

"I had fun tonight."

"That poor deliveryman you yelled at when you first got there probably can't say the same thing." Leo teased.

She slapped his arm indignantly, "He dropped a whole case of vodka and then _he_ was rude to _me_ about it! Don't be mean."

He shrugged, "Hey, I've got a beautiful girl naked in my shower. Whatever she says goes."

"Is that all it takes?"

"Did I mention the part where she's naked?"

She smirked and pulled his head down to her level, holding his face between her hands and kissing him thoroughly. She couldn't remember when they had last had opportunity to take their time like this in the shower together. When locked doors did nothing to keep your kids from entering a room, it tended to inspire a whole new level of rapidity. Add to that the rush they were always in to get out of the house in the mornings, and for her and Leo, "showering together to save time" had stopped being an excuse, and become a reality.

Their position was fine for Piper, but for Leo, standing over half a foot taller, it left something to be desired. Without breaking contact he gripped her thighs and lifted her against the shower wall.

"This is a bad idea." Piper murmured against his lips.

"Why's that?" He asked breathlessly.

"I'm not twenty five anymore, and you're not immortal." She giggled, "If you lose your balance, we're going to die."

"Well you swinging your legs like that isn't doing anything for my balance." He shifted her weight and lightly tapped the leg dangling closest to his side. "Maybe if you helped me out a little…"

She lifted an eyebrow and let her gaze fall pointedly between them, "You don't look like you need any help to me."

She took him into her hands, and the suddenness of her action caused him to slip on the wet bathtub bottom and very nearly take both of them out. She shrieked and automatically braced herself against his shoulders, then laughed loudly when he caught himself and gave her a stern stare.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant."

"I misunderstood." She replied innocently.

He merely rolled his eyes and shook his head, and she laughed again.

He loved her; that was a given. But there were occasions such as this one, when he was completely consumed by the depth of the feeling. Oftentimes, they weren't on the same page; she was mad, or he was mad, or one of them was falling apart, and it was a seemingly endless cycle of misses and crossed signals and frustration. Then, a perfect moment. A perfect instance in which she was right, and he was right, and they just fit. A perfect instance in which the love was so fierce and vulnerable between them, he could feel it almost as powerfully as he had when he was her whitelighter.

"I love you." He whispered.

The teasing grin vanished from her face, and she tangled her fingers in his wet hair. "I love you too."

They had both planned on taking it slow, on relishing a window of opportunity that stretched beyond the twenty minute maximum they usually had before one or both of their sons came to investigate their disappearance. But as she felt him slip inside her, and as he felt her legs and core muscles alike tighten around his body, slow promptly became vastly overrated. The stress of the past weeks fell away with the dizzying pace of their eager bodies, and they came quickly before collapsing in a tangled heap of spent muscles and uncooperative limbs on the bathtub floor.

Piper traced patterns in the water droplets falling on his chest as the showerhead continued to run above them.

"It's weird, isn't it?" She asked once sufficient time had passed, and she regained her ability to form coherent sentences.

"What's that?"

"Being in here longer than five minutes without Wyatt or Chris charging in. I can't get used to it."

Leo laughed and turned off the water; the heat was starting to make him lightheaded.

"It's a little weird."

The sudden absence of the water caused a tiny shiver to flow through her quickly cooling body, and she reached for the towels hanging from the nearby rack. By the time she had covered herself and treaded lightly into the bedroom, she realized she was still keyed up from the night at the club; far too keyed up to sleep.

Leo, under the very wrong impression that they were going to bed, was already settling himself beneath the comforter before he realized that her high ponytail – not to mention the bra – were not exactly part of her preferred bedtime attire.

"It's quarter to five, Piper." He complained, "What are you doing?"

She opened her mouth, but he cut her off before she had a chance to respond.

"You better not mention the basement." He warned.

She quirked an eyebrow, and for a moment, she _was_ tempted to say the basement just to call him on his threat.

"The attic." She responded instead, smugly.

"Why?" Leo whined, "What is there to do in the attic that's so important, it can't wait until later… preferably, after we've slept for at least an hour?"

"I'm going to go through the book."

"Piper, you've been through it a hundred times, I'm sure you've memorized the entry by now. If you feel like you're ready, you can call Phoebe and Paige tomorrow."

Her eyes brightened, "I think I'll call them now."

Piper reached for the handset, but Leo snatched it up from the cradle first and held it out of her reach.

"It's a quarter to five." He repeated slowly, "As a husband, I can tell you how annoying it is when your sisters call at insane hours. I guarantee Henry and Coop feel the same way when you do it."

Piper put her hands on her hips, "Leo, give me the phone." She ordered.

"Nope."

Leo grinned when she glared at him, but stormed around to her side of the bed regardless. She roughly pulled back the comforter before sulkily settling herself on the mattress. He had actually won.

And then Piper was gone, and so was the telephone. Instead, in his hand, there lay a sticky note.

_Piper's awesome powers: 1  
Leo's pathetic attempt at keep-away: 0_

He smiled; his relief due to her ongoing good mood overriding any irritation he might have otherwise had. Piper had been going at full steam from the minute the boys pulled away from the house almost two weeks ago, but this was the first time she had mentioned contacting Phoebe and Paige to plan the vanquish. While she had practically lived between the attic and the basement, she had been doing so alone, determined to regain control of her powers so that the Charmed Ones could pick up where they had been forced to leave off.

Tonight, he had seen flashes of his Piper while at the club. She had relaxed enough to enjoy the band; she had even danced a little. And he had been so happy to see her happy, he had joined her when she asked, even though dancing at the club had to be one of his least favourite things. Another one of those odd generation gaps that occasionally popped up between him and Piper. He hoped this all proved to be the reminder of what she was missing, locked up in the house, that he had hoped it would be. He needed her to get her confidence back. He needed her to forget what had happened at the manor to start all this, and remember that the important part lay in the fact that Paige had saved him, and nothing except the bedroom had been left any worse for wear. He missed his kids.

He resigned himself to the fact that Piper had apparently decided they weren't sleeping tonight, and wandered up to the attic after her.

He gave her a tight, _aren't we cute_, smile when he walked through the open doorway, and she stood innocently by the Book of Shadows save for the grin of malicious satisfaction she made no attempt to hide.

"Hi." She greeted.

"You called, didn't you?"

A slight frown passed over her face, "Henry hung up on me."

"Good." Leo muttered.

She shot him her best wounded look, but even Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes; the fact that she would think there was even a chance he'd fall for it was insulting.

"Don't look at me like that; you had it coming. I told you, none of us like it when you guys do that. It's annoying."

She stuck out her tongue, and he laughed as he moved into the room to stand beside her.

"Thank you." She said sincerely.

"For what?"

"For making me leave the house. For keeping the club afloat while I was hiding from the world. For making me laugh."

"Always." He smiled.

She knew she had been giving him mixed signals the last few days; her moods had been manic/depressive, although she was sure her sisters would say that was nothing new. The thing was, she felt normal during the day; as normal as she had ever been since discovering her "Charmed" destiny. If it wasn't for the dreams that had begun plaguing her every time she closed her eyes, she would have gone straight to her sister's and stolen back her children days ago. Going to work had been so normal it had made the dreams seem silly. It had made not having her kids in her house seem silly, and she wanted to hold on to that confidence and deny her subconscious the opportunity to strip it all away.

"Sleep muddles everything." She blurted. It wasn't exactly the smooth opening she had been going for, but it would have to do. Leo simply stared and waited for her to continue, so after a deep breath, she did.

"I'm sure, and I'm confident right now, and I don't want that to change. I want to bring them home, because it's right and I can feel it, but I don't want to wake up in a few hours feeling the way I did yesterday morning. I don't want to be scared about it."

"You're going to be scared." He answered gently. "It's just the way you are; you'll be nervous, like you were tonight, but just like it did tonight, it will pass. You'll be fine; the longer you wait, the more you're going to obsess, and it will only get worse."

She paced in front of the book, knowing he was right and wishing he wasn't. She had a difficult time making decisions; she teetered back and forth between her options, afraid of choosing the wrong one, and all the while she always made the situation unnecessarily hard for herself. Because if she were going to be truthful she would be forced to admit that in her heart of hearts, she always knew what the right choice was. And she would save herself weeks of undue stress and deliberation if she would just follow her gut instinct in the first place.

"Make the choice, Piper." Leo pushed, "I won't do it for you. You have to decide that you're ready. For the record though; I trust you with our sons' lives, and I think you should trust you too."

And so, she looked into his clear green eyes, and she jumped.

"Tomorrow." She said firmly, "Or, today, I guess. You know what I mean."

The less time she had before the pick-up, the less time there was for her to think of a thousand reasons why they should wait another week.

"Okay. It's settled then." Leo grinned.

Piper hesitated, "Unless you think that's too impulsive? Should we wait one more night?" She questioned uncertainly.

"Today is perfect." He assured, stepping closer to her side and pulling her against his body. "On a few conditions, of course." He added.

"What conditions?" Piper asked suspiciously.

"Bed." He complained for the umpteenth time. "I am too old for these all-nighters. Can we please, _please_, just go to bed for a few hours?"

"Fine." Piper laughed, "You big baby. What else?"

"You have to get rid of this."

He slid his hand under her t-shirt and fingered the fabric of her sports bra before giving her breast a teasing squeeze through the material.

"Oh yeah?" She played along.

"Uh huh." He replied seriously. "And these." He continued, slipping his other hand behind the waistband of her yoga pants, and playing absently with the drawstring.

"I thought you were tired."

"And, especially these."

"Leo?" She repeated, although it was becoming admittedly difficult to concentrate. "Leo, you said you were tired."

"That's different." He dismissed, and he grinned in satisfaction at her gasp, as he continued to run his fingers lightly over her newly uncovered skin. "Besides, I think it would be wrong if we didn't have sex at least once before the boys come back."

"But we just-

"Different." He dismissed again, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright. Stop it." She slapped half-heartedly at his hands, "Okay, I cave; I find your terms acceptable."

"All of them?" He asked hopefully.

"All of them." She rolled her eyes. "Come on."

He rested his hand on the small of her back as they walked towards the door, and he almost bumped into her when she stopped suddenly upon reaching the other side.

"Did you hear that?" She frowned, "Or feel it?"

He listened carefully and then shook his head. "No."

Regardless, his face became serious and he took a half step forward in the way he always did, even though it made her nervous and she wished he wouldn't. Because it wasn't his job to protect her anymore and him getting hurt was the worst thing that could happen to her. After a moment she forced a laugh, even though the tiny hairs on the back of her neck had yet to stand down.

"I'm getting paranoid, let's go."

He grabbed her wrist as she tried to brush past him. "If you thought you heard something, you probably did. Trust your instincts."

She waited a beat longer and then shrugged. "It was nothing. Forget it."

* * *

Tallis strode confidently down the corridor, for once certain that his good news would eliminate any chance of meeting the ever vengeful end of Lisgav's temper. The boy would be returning home soon. He hadn't been made privy to the significance of ensuring the child returned to the dwelling, but it would please Lisgav, undoubtedly. He hoped. The last thing he wanted was to be stripped of his position, and forced to join the ranks of the lower level demons he was responsible for sending to their slaughter. No. His job was simple. He had watched each failed attack and reported it as he had been asked, and now that the children were resuming their permanent residence at the manor, Lisgav could instruct him as to the next phase of the plan. There was only one minor detail he wouldn't trifle him with, and that was-

"Tallis."

The demon materialized from shadow, the way he always did. It was unnerving. It made one wonder how long he stood in a room before he made his presence known, how many things he saw that others wouldn't have wanted him to. Tallis supposed that was probably the point.

"Lisgav."

He never spoke until a direct question was asked of him; Lisgav seemed to appreciate that.

"Report."

"She grows stronger; I feel we have lost our temporary lead. She destroyed three lower levels at once without making an effort."

"You're smiling, Tallis." Lisgave observed curiously, "I don't believe that is a muscle contraction I have ever seen you perform."

"I've been at the Halliwell manor."

"That's good." Lisgav replied dryly, "Otherwise we would have a problem on our hands."

"The eldest witch and her mate decided to bring the children back to the household."

He smiled, "At last. How long must we wait?"

"A matter of hours, sir. The witch expressed a desire to retrieve them at first light. I thought you would be pleased."

"Excellent. Continue on with the random attacks, although tomorrow, feel free to double the numbers sent to the manor. In all likelihood, she will defeat them just as easily, but if the new gift of the youngest child is as powerful as you have led me to believe, the onslaught will take its toll on him. And then her, in return."

"Yes."

"And arrange something special for tonight; something gruesome, painful. You will lead this attack after they have succumbed to slumber. Go after the Charmed One and her mortal with everything you have, and I guarantee you, Tallis, come this time tomorrow, the Power of Three will be ours for the taking. The witches will die."

Tallis nodded and did an about-face. He had made the right decision, keeping Lisgav uninformed of the going-on's amongst the troops; it was _his _job to command the forces, and if an issue was raised, it was his to handle. And handle it he would.

"Is there anything else I should know, Tallis? Anything which concerns me?"

The lesser demon froze; Lisgav wouldn't ask unless he already knew the answer. This was a test, and now he had no choice but to give an honest answer should he hope to spare himself a trip to the demonic wasteland.

"Even the base level ones have come to realize their numbers are dwindling, and no demon has ever returned once assigned to attack. It has finally occurred to a few of them that if you were seriously depending on them to kill the Charmed Ones, you wouldn't be sending them one by one. They talk of leaving… however I assure you, I shall remind them of whom they serve."

He tried to smother a flinch, anticipating to – once again – be shot as the messenger, but Lisgav gave him a tolerant nod instead.

"You do that. You remind those ingrates that they volunteered. If they don't wish to be killed, it's as simple as killing the witch first. Regardless of whether or not they can manage that admittedly difficult task, they _will_ continue to try. The witch kills quickly and mercifully; they are gone before they have a chance to feel it. I do not kill the same way. I will take my time, and they will pray to be given a chance for a death such as the one they would have received by the witch's hand. Am I understood?"

Tallis nodded curtly.

"You're dismissed."

Lisgav smiled to himself when he was once again left alone in the cavern. The excitement was beginning to course beneath his skin so quickly he almost didn't know what to do with it. It was a feeling comparative to his first kill; a feeling a demon could spend his eternity trying to recapture to no avail. He was close, he was so close. And at this point, even the worst possible scenario could still be counted as a win.

He thought of Tallis, and his instructions for the right hand to accompany the demons upon the next setting of the sun. Tallis was a good soldier; he would survive the assault on the manor, of that Lisgav was almost sure. He would be too smart to try to kill the witch, but he had a fighting chance of killing the mortal. The witch would be beside herself, and the only thing he could think of which could possibly be more unbearable to the witch than watching her husband die, would be the knowledge that her son would shoulder the burden of seeing him die as well. Of course, this was all dependent on his assumption that Tallis would try to attack the human, but he had a talent for anticipating the actions of others, and it seemed more than highly likely. Even without the loss of a loved one, Lisgav was confident the attack might serve as enough to finally drive the witch to the desperate measures of one whose judgement was clouded by overwhelming measures of love and fear.

Everything would change tomorrow.

* * *

_So I finally tackled Coop, after putting it off for chapter upon chapter upon chapter. Yay me! Although, maybe that's a big part of the reason why this is my least favourite chapter so far. I digress. Xheart to Thee, I know it wasn't exactly the type of scene you had in mind, but I promise there are good things you're going to love on the way :) ._


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks for being patient! I'm not a hundred percent finished all my papers, but I wrote two of them and the midterms are behind me, so I can put the rest off for a little while longer and then complain about it later :P . This is sort of a fluffy chapter, but it's the last one before things start rolling, so just bear with me this last time, and by the end of the week you'll have some action again :) .

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Ready?"

"Uncle Henry's gonna put us in time-out."

"He's never done it before… not even when we got spaghetti sauce all over the wall that one time."

"That's because he thought that was funny."

"Does that mean you don't want to do it anymore?"

"No… but we're going to go to time-out."

"We're not going to touch the stove; we're not breaking the rule. Uncle Henry will be happy 'cause we aren't waking him up."

"Wy…"

"Just do it, Chris."

* * *

Henry bolted upright in his bed as the overbearing ring of the smoke alarm abruptly pulled him into consciousness. He squinted against the morning light and began sleepily shuffling toward the edge of the mattress. Shaking the last of the cobwebs from his tired brain, he headed out into the hall to check on the boys. If those damn kids three apartments down had pulled the building alarm again, so help him he was going to…

…the boys were suspiciously absent from their bedroom, and he jogged down the hallway in search of them. If there was one thing to be said about Wyatt and Chris, it was that they made keeping track of them a relatively easy task; they were seemingly incapable of causing mischief silently, and as Henry turned the corner and walked into the smoky haze that was slowly filling the apartment, he knew today would be no different. Quickly following the smoke to the kitchen, Henry saw the two boys, huddled together in the corner by the fridge, staring at a frying pan on the stove consumed by flames leaping high into the air.

It appeared that, for once, the smoke detector actually had a good reason to deploy.

Chris waved a hand, and a vase traveled from the kitchen table across the room to the stovetop.

"Chris, no!"

Startled by the sudden appearance of his uncle, Chris lost his concentration, and the vase shattered into the pan, causing a flurry of intimidating electric sparks before the circuit shorted out. Henry snatched a dish towel from the nearby countertop, dampened it, and then competently covered the frying pan, effectively killing the remains of the grease fire.

Breathing heavily, Henry glowered at the two young boys as they grinned sheepishly in his direction. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

Wyatt opened his mouth to speak, but Henry held up a silencing hand.

"Don't even _try_ to tell me that you're "allowed" to do that at your house."

Wyatt's eyes bugged open in surprise at Henry's easy anticipation of his words, and he promptly snapped his mouth shut. Apparently, Henry was almost as good as mom.

"Uncle Henry?" Chris began timidly, testing the waters, "Mommy and daddy said we aren't allowed to touch the stove, but not me or Wyatt touched it ourselves, so we thought-

"Uh uh." Henry shook his head. "There's no way you thought this would be okay. Chris, I hate to be the one to break this to you buddy, but you're four years old now. You've got a really short window of time left before the 'getting away with stuff because you're young and cute' thing stops working. Sorry, but it's true. And just because I don't have powers, doesn't mean I don't know about the personal gain rule; and if _I _know about it, then you _definitely_ know about it."

"Huh?" Chris asked innocently.

With perfect timing – for the boys – there was a knock at the front door.

Henry sighed while the boys smirked, and his brow furrowed. The two of them were too damn smart for their own good. As Wyatt and Chris smiled, Henry emulated the, _I mean business_ parental glare he had witnessed Piper and Leo deliver upon occasion, and the result was instant. Both Wyatt and Chris immediately sobered and stared contritely at the floor.

Henry smiled for two seconds before the knocking began anew and the grins returned to the boys' faces; so much for that.

He walked down the hall and swung the front door open, then found himself face to face – sort of – with Piper. His face must have reflected more signs of stress than he would have believed, because his sister-in-law's bright smile grew larger as she watched him.

"Uh oh." She teased, "I know that face; what did they do?"

"Piper!" He greeted warmly, drawing her into a comfortable hug. "Dare I presume that you are once again allowing yourself to mingle with the everyday citizens of San Francisco and your family alike?"

"Presume away." She laughed.

"Where's Leo?"

"Oh, he just went to park the car. I've been driving him crazy this morning, I've been so antsy and anxious… he was almost overeager to drop me off at the front and gain two minutes of peace and stillness."

Henry and Piper heard the high pitched, excited chatter of Wyatt and Chris an instant before they bounded into the room to investigate the voice they thought they heard.

"Mommy!"

Wyatt's taller, more co-ordinated body reached her first, and she threw her purse carelessly in the general direction of the couch and hugged him fiercely, making room for Chris when he caught up.

"My babies." She breathed. "I've missed you so much."

"We missed you too." Chris murmured into her neck. "Don't make us go away again. Never ever. I like it better at home with you and daddy."

"Never ever." Piper swore, placing quick kisses on both their cheeks. "I love you."

"We love you too." Wyatt answered. "A lot. _A lot _a lot."

"A lot times infinity." Chris added solemnly.

Henry stood across the room, arms folded across his chest, smiling despite his slightly awkward feeling of intruding upon the intimate scene. Times infinity. _He _had been the one to teach Chris that. It was a good feeling.

And in that moment, he understood a fraction more about parenthood than he had before. He understood how Piper could be so indifferent to the boys' short, distracted phone calls; how she could be so secure in her love for them, and theirs for her. How she didn't feel that childish, competitive drive to gain their affections the way Paige and himself occasionally did. Regardless of the fun they had around other people, Piper was the one who climbed into bed with them when bad dreams scared them awake. She wiped noses, bandaged knees, kissed elbows, and made breakfast for dinner on special occasions. His and Paige's place was an amusement park; it was always fun, but eventually, inevitably, you just wanted to go home. From the boys reactions it seemed Piper had pulled herself together at precisely the right time.

She began to stand, but both children leaned forward and threw her off balance, sending her toppling over from her crouched position. She laughed and pulled them into her lap, and Henry shrugged his shoulders before settling down on the floor beside her.

"You look better."

"I feel better." She smiled, exposing all her teeth in a way he hadn't seen in awhile. Each of the Halliwell women were absolutely irresistible when they turned on their smiles. He felt a wave of affection for his sister-in-law, alongside a pang of longing for his own wife, and her teasing smile.

"Where's my sister? Still sleeping? What were _you _two doing last night? No wonder you didn't answer my call."

Henry tried to smile, but it turned out more like a grimace. As he was trying to find words besides _Paige walked out on me,_ Chris beat him to the punch.

"Auntie Paige and Phoebe had a sleepover yesterday."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "They did?" She drawled out in exaggerated shock, tickling Chris's stomach.

He giggled and pushed away her hand, "Stop it, mommy."

"Has my miserable disposition spread to my little sister?"

"You could say that." Henry sighed.

Just then, Leo came through the open front door.

"Hey daddy." Wyatt called casually.

"Hi bud." Leo smiled.

It warmed his heart to see his son had settled into the comfortable, independent mind frame he had always associated with both his children. The first few days had been filled with anxious phone calls from Wyatt, but eventually the child's nerves had calmed; especially given that Leo had taken to visiting the apartment on an almost daily basis. _There was no changing what had already occurred_. It was always so much easier to remind Piper of that fact than it was for Leo to embrace it himself. But regardless of how difficult a concept it was to accept, he could only keep moving forward. His sons would never doubt how much they were loved by him.

"Paige had a sleepover with Phoebe last night." Piper repeated knowingly to Leo.

"Oh yeah?"

"Come on guys." Henry groaned, "I've been watching your kids almost two weeks… doesn't that give me a free pass of some sort?"

"Like, the one you didn't give me when Wyatt dragged the slutty lingerie _your_ wife bought me through the dining room, during that dinner party with my dad?" Piper pretended to think it over. "Nope. Sorry."

"Piper, that was like, two years ago."

"I told you I'd have my revenge."

Henry looked to Leo for support, but the former whitelighter merely shrugged and seated himself on the floor beside his wife.

"Is there anything we can do?" Leo asked, deftly pulling Chris over his shoulder when the four year old pounced on his back.

"Nah. It'll blow over."

The blue and white lights, which could seem obnoxiously bright at the best of times, were blinding first thing in the morning. At least, for Henry they were. Piper and Leo didn't look affected as they patiently halted the conversation until Paige arrived in full form. He assumed they were used to it, having been married for years with Leo orbing in and out. Besides, the boys weren't exactly known for using their magic particularly discretely or sparingly. He blinked against the sudden light.

"Morning sunshine." Piper greeted enthusiastically.

Paige's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she gave her sister a warm smile. Henry noticed she didn't even try to include him in it. "Hey there. The hundred years of solitude have come to an end I'm assuming?"

"Yes." Piper answered cheerfully. "Auntie Paige and Uncle Henry can consider themselves officially relieved of duty."

"Does this mean we're back on for the demon hunting?"

Piper felt Chris stiffen almost imperceptibly, and she rubbed her hand reassuringly against his arm while he twisted her long hair between his fingers.

"In a matter of speaking; I talked to Phoebe on my way over here and she has some important conferences scheduled for today. We'll have to pick up tomorrow."

"Conferences?" Paige repeated, "We have to wait because she has conferences?"

Piper shrugged, "We waited two weeks for me; we can wait one more day for Phoebe."

"It's not quite the same thing."

"Well that's the way it's going to be. I'm so far behind at the club, another day away isn't going to make a difference; how's your schedule looking for tomorrow?"

Paige shrugged, "I can take a long lunch; people don't even ask me about it anymore."

"Don't you have court tomorrow?" Henry reminded her in what he thought was a helpful manner.

"I'm sorry." She said coolly, "I'm pretty sure no one was talking to you."

Henry sighed, and Leo shot him a look of sympathy.

"As I was saying," Paige continued pointedly, "I can take a long lunch… I just need to be back at work for one thirty."

"That should be fine, we'll work around it."

"You're going to be late." Henry provoked in a sing-song voice, suddenly unable to keep himself from antagonizing her. "You always are."

Paige glared, and Piper cleared her throat. "I was also going to suggest dinner tomorrow night, just to say thanks for all you two have done the past few weeks, but we can do that another time."

"What?" Henry protested, "Wait, I love dinner."

Piper glanced uncertainly between him and Paige.

"It's really not a big deal… we can do it another time. Maybe by then it can be a celebration for defeating Lisgav as well."

"Dinner sounds great." Paige agreed thinly. She _had_ missed the weekly ritual in the time since Piper's powers advanced. But if Henry thought this would bully her into being cordial, he had another thing coming. Piper and Leo fought in front of her all the time; she had no reservations about returning the favour.

"Did you have a good sleepover?" Wyatt asked.

She raised an eyebrow as Henry blushed.

"Sure did!" She answered. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Does anybody else smell that?"

Piper frowned, "Now that you mention it…"

Wyatt jumped up suddenly from his seat between her and Leo.

"Mom!" He said animatedly, "I'm going to be late for school!"

Piper shifted Chris from her lap and began to rise, but halfway to a standing position she stopped and suspicion clouded her face. Up until that moment, she had completely forgotten how frazzled Henry had looked when he answered the door. She could think of two children off the top of her head who were easily capable of fixing that look onto any adults' face.

"What were you up to before I got here?" She asked directly.

Wyatt shuffled his feet and looked to Chris.

"No, don't look at him. I'm asking _you_ a question."

Henry almost laughed at the near panic in the not-quite-six year old's expression that was so different from the confident smile he had delivered just prior to Piper's arrival.

"Well, we wanted to make bacon for breakfast, but we didn't want to wake up Uncle Henry."

Leo raised an eyebrow; that was a first. He wished they were that considerate when it came to him and Piper.

"But we know we're not allowed to touch the stove. So we thought that if we stood by the fridge and moved the buttons from there, then it wouldn't be breaking the rules."

"And it's not personal gain, 'cause it was for Uncle Henry." Chris added importantly.

"You did what?" Piper exclaimed.

Paige snickered, and Piper shot her a warning look.

"It was just a little fire!" Chris defended.

"Just a… what is the matter with you two? Chris? I'm assuming most of this was done using your power?"

"Wyatt made me?" Chris tried weakly.

"Uh uh." Piper shook her head, "No one has ever made you do anything you didn't want to. Especially not Wyatt. You better hope nothing's broken."

Leo glanced at his watch and reluctantly interrupted. "Honey, if we don't leave soon he really is going to be late."

Piper glared at the two boys, but she got to her feet just the same.

"What do you say to Paige and Henry?" She demanded.

"We're sorry." They chimed solemnly.

"Sorry for what?"

"We're sorry we played with the stove."

"And sorry we started a fire." Chris added after a beat.

Paige and Henry both laughed in spite of themselves, and Piper closed her eyes in exasperation.

"Don't encourage them. It's not going to be so funny when they actually do manage to burn the place down."

"But mom-

"Go get your backpack."

"But-

"I really think you should go get that backpack."

Wyatt disappeared down the hall, and Chris tottered after him.

"Just a little fire." She muttered incredulously. "They're unbelievable."

"Piper." Leo prompted, "We're going to be late."

"Go." Paige assured. "Whatever they've left behind, we'll bring on Wednesday."

"Thanks Paige. Boys!" She yelled, "We're leaving."

The sound of their loud footsteps pounded down the hallway, and they hurriedly pulled on their shoes and the jackets Piper and Leo held out for them. Silence descended on the homey apartment the moment the door closed, and it was made instantly clear to Henry that Paige was determined to stay angry. He racked his brain for an appropriate ice breaker, but in the end, there was nothing eloquent about his chosen words.

"I have to get to work."

"I'm going to check the damage in the kitchen."

They walked off in their separate directions, and there were no more words.

* * *

"… and then, we made cookies with Auntie Paige, except they didn't actually taste good because I don't think she actually knows how to make cookies, 'cause she just let Wyatt and me put whatever we wanted in the bowl, and when we make cookies with you we aren't allowed to put gummy bears in."

Piper exchanged a smile with Leo as Chris finally took a breath, for what seemed like the first time since Wyatt had been left in the care of his kindergarten teacher. Before, he had been forced to take turns telling stories; now, he was relishing no longer having to share the spotlight.

"And then Uncle Henry tried to eat one because Paige dared him to, and then he couldn't even bite it and Auntie Paige laughed and he told us it wasn't funny, but really it was. And we went to the zoo, but just a little one. It wasn't the same as the really big one you and daddy took us to before."

At this point in the story they pulled into the driveway, and Chris eagerly unbuckled his seatbelt and threw open the door before the car came to a complete stop.

"Chris," Piper warned, "Do that again, and I'll make it so that you can't get out until daddy or I open the door for you."

"Sorry. And Henry showed us how to blow bubbles with our gum, and he let me have a whole piece by myself; he didn't rip it in half like you do sometimes, mom."

Piper rolled her eyes as Leo laughed. Chris slipped his tiny hand into hers, and she struggled to hold back happy tears at the familiarity of the small action. There weren't words to describe how glad she was to have them home. She had been tempted to keep Wyatt out of school today, but in the end she had decided that their routine had been disturbed enough to last awhile. She knew she had made the right decision in bringing them home; she didn't feel wary or unsure of herself at all. She just hoped her confidence would continue on when the lights were off and the manor slept while her thoughts raced in spite of herself.

Chris continued to hold her hand, even after they were all inside, and Leo shut the door behind them.

"Mommy do you think we can make cookies, but for real and not like the ones we made with Paige? And can we make the white chocolate kind because Wyatt's not here?"

"Of course, baby. Go wash your hands; I'll meet you in the kitchen."

He ran upstairs to the bathroom while Leo followed Piper into the kitchen.

"You look as happy as he does." Leo observed as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.

"I think that's probably accurate." She answered, pausing in her gathering of the appropriate bowls and measurement implements to give him a quick kiss.

She measured out the dry ingredients and placed them to one side for Chris, and she was reaching into the cupboard for the vanilla, in the middle of asking Leo to fix the washing machine when he had a chance, when Chris orbed in beside her.

"Stairs, buddy." She chastised, "Use the stairs."

He tugged on the hem of her shirt and beckoned her to his level with a crook of his index finger. She shared a bemused smile with Leo and then obligingly bent down.

"What's up?"

He put a hand on her shoulder for balance and leaned forward. "There's a demon in the attic." He whispered.

Piper was slightly taken aback by his calm demeanor; he was a little pale, and his voice shook ever so slightly, but overall, it was nothing in comparison to before. She accurately assumed Paige had something to do with the transformation, but there would be time to think about that later.

"You're a very special little boy." She murmured, placing a kiss on his cheek and fingering his dark hair. "I love you. Don't worry, mommy's going to go take care of it, okay?"

He nodded his head. "He's still in the attic; I think he's confused. And kind of dumb… it's like he doesn't even know what he wants to do; the pictures keep changing and you're really scared in all of them, except your voice is wrong and it's not things you would say ever."

"Watch him?" She said to Leo.

"Of course."

"I'll be right back."

True to her word, less than a minute after she disappeared from the kitchen Chris and Leo heard the sharp explosion that marked her success. They grinned at one another, and Chris stole a handful of the chocolate chips knowing Leo wouldn't tell, because he had stolen a few as well.

That was the first one.

The second one came while Piper was in the shower, so Chris told Leo, and his father picked up one of the vials in the kitchen cabinets and took care of it. Chris could tell that Piper wasn't exactly impressed when she heard what happened, but she was angry with dad, not him, so it was okay.

It was with the third one that things became clouded, because it wasn't one at all, it was several, and they all screamed in his head so loudly it was difficult for him to remember not to be scared… there were so many of them and only one of his mom.

He hadn't quite moved past the headache of the last attack when yet another demon shimmered in. Piper killed it just as quickly as she had the others, but the thought suddenly occurred to Chris that if one of them got to her before he saw or heard them, then he might not be able to save her in time. He began keeping very close to her side, and giving her hand a tiny squeeze when he felt a presence in the manor that didn't belong.

He saw his close contact with his mother as a protective act, as his way of ensuring she wouldn't be taken by surprise, but what Piper saw was a scared little boy who was, once again, refusing to leave her side. The morning flew by, and before she knew it, it was time to pick up Wyatt from school. Chris couldn't quite tell time yet, but he had memorized certain hand positions on the grandfather clock, and he connected those positions with specific events. For instance, he knew that the little hand had to be pointing at the eight, and the longer hand was usually beside the two, when Piper or Leo told them it was time to get in the car and take Wyatt to school. If it was a magic school day for his dad, Piper drove; if it wasn't, Leo did, and Piper was usually gone to the club by the time they came home. He knew they left to pick up Wyatt when the small hand was at the very top, and the big hand was pointing at the two. By the time he could see the big hand was near the one, Chris always ran to the foyer and paced anxiously by the front door, awaiting the tell-tale jingling of the car keys that let him know Piper or Leo – or on occasion, both of them – was ready to pick up Wyatt.

Piper frowned when a peek at her watch told her it was almost ten past twelve, and Chris hadn't so much as glanced at the front door. He _never_ forgot what time it was… the mornings he spent with them instead of at preschool, he passed the time by racing to the clock from wherever he happened to be at least once every twenty minutes, waiting for the position that told him it was finally time to get his brother. On the odd occasion Leo and herself were both home during the day, such as today, they generally picked Wyatt up together, but she had wanted to do some work in the attic while everyone was out of the house. She heard Leo's footsteps in the front hall and the sound of the keys being lifted from their hook, and then there was a pause as he waited for Chris to come running. She could imagine his look of slight confusion over his noticeably absent son; Chris hadn't once failed to be waiting by the door since he proudly constructed his method of telling the time.

"Chris?" Leo's voice carried in to the dining room, where she had the club's inventory list spread out on the table in front of her, and her son sitting quietly in the seat beside. "Are you coming?"

Chris shook his head, and Piper subtly moved a stack of papers out of his reach when his curious hands began flipping through them. "He can't see you shaking your head, sweetheart."

"No, daddy." Chris shouted, "I'm staying with mom."

Leo changed course, and she looked up from her paperwork when he stepped in the doorway and looked at her questioningly; she shrugged.

"Your mom looks pretty busy, buddy. Come keep me company. She's got a lot of work to do."

"No thank-you." Chris responded politely, reaching across the table for the same sheaf of papers Piper had just moved away from him.

Leo raised an eyebrow, "It wasn't exactly a suggestion, Chris." He said bemusedly.

"I want to keep mommy company today. I won't be in the way, right mom?"

"Oh no, sweetie." She said gently, removing the data from his hands for the second time. "Of course not. But are you sure you want to stay here? It's going to be a lot more boring than going with daddy."

"Please?" He begged. "Can I please stay?"

"Alright." Piper consented after a slight hesitation. "If you really want to."

Before Leo could back out of the room, Piper called him back suddenly.

"Wait."

Her brow furrowed as she began shuffling through the papers on the table; she had _just_ seen it… her gaze stopped on Chris, who was telekinetically twirling the very shopping list she was looking for between his hands. She rolled her eyes and snatched the paper from mid-air, giving Chris a pointed, _stop touching things,_ look.

"Could you stop by the store on your way back?"

"Sure. We'll be home in an hour or so."

Piper nodded absently, already engrossed in the work in front of her. She smiled to herself when Chris began restlessly tapping a beat on the top of the table before Leo even made it out the door. By the time she heard the jeep engine spring to life, her son was swinging his legs forward and backward beneath his chair in boredom. A minute after that, his fingers crept back toward the stack of paper, but off Piper's raised eyebrow he sheepishly withdrew his hand. After five minutes of silence, she was just beginning to reflect on how unusual it was for Chris to stay silent so long, despite good intentions, when the familiar chatter began.

"Hey mom, did you know that your bed has over six billion dust mites?"

Piper grimaced, "That's disgusting. Who told you that?"

"I saw it on Discovery Channel with Uncle Henry. How many is six billion?"

"It's a lot."

"Did you know that Giraffes can clean their ears with their tongues?"

"How much Discovery Channel did you watch?" Piper asked curiously.

"A lot."

"Hmm."

She was proud of him; if it hadn't been for his uncharacteristic insistence that he stay home with her instead of going to meet his brother, she wouldn't have thought the demon interruptions had bothered him any more than they used to.

"I'm hungry."

She put down her pen and checked her watch incredulously. "You just ate lunch not even half an hour ago."

"I know, but I wasn't really that hungry then. I'm hungry now."

She sighed and kissed the top of his head. "You are your father's child. How about a banana, huh? Would that be good enough?"

Chris tilted his head contemplatively. "Could I have it with nutella?"

She fought the urge to sigh again. _Paige_. Her kids had been perfectly content eating fruit that wasn't covered in that chocolate spread until her sister intervened.

"I'll see if I can find some." She conceded. She pushed back her chair and caught his wrist as he, again, reached for a stack of bright charts adorning a different section of the table. "Don't… touch… anything." She said firmly.

Instead of making any such promise, he offered her a wide, mischievous smile.

"I mean it, buddy." She warned. "Keep those hands away from my table."

As soon as she disappeared into the kitchen, Chris suddenly remembered that the whole reason he had chosen to stay behind, had been to keep Piper from being alone in case another demon came. He scrambled off the chair and darted through the doorway connecting the dining room to the kitchen.

Piper walked back toward the dining room with the intention of asking Chris if he wanted anything to drink with his snack, and as she stepped into his path he ran into her full steam.

"Careful." She caught his arm before he hit the floor. "Are you okay?" She asked, stifling a laugh.

"I'm fine." He replied brightly.

"Do you want milk, or water?"

"Water, please."

Piper eyed him curiously when he followed her to the fridge, but it wasn't until she nearly tripped over him after reaching into the cupboard for a cup that she decided to put an end to this before one of them got hurt.

"You can wait at the table, sweetheart. I'll bring it to you."

"No thank-you."

His voice was insistent without being disrespectful; the same way he had spoken to Leo not ten minutes ago. But he couldn't stay glued to her side forever; he was independent by nature, and she loved him for it. If she indulged this there was a good chance he'd eventually end up more neurotic than _she_ was, and she wouldn't allow that.

"Chris, I know you're afraid, but-

"I'm not afraid." He denied.

"Uh huh." She smiled slightly, "Then why haven't you moved two feet away from me since I came out of the shower? Why didn't you go with your dad to pick up Wyatt?"

"'Cause I'm protecting you."

Piper paused; she hadn't thought of that.

"Honey, that's very sweet." She laughed softly, "but it's not your job to protect me. It's my job to protect you. You're only job is to have fun, and play with your brother, and learn things in preschool, and maybe let mommy and daddy sleep in every once in a while. That would be nice."

Chris laughed, and she gave him a gentle push in the direction of the dining room. "Go. Sit. I'll be right there."

He raced back out of the kitchen, and Piper resisted the automatic impulse to tell him to walk. Chris only had one speed. Maybe she would talk to Leo about signing him up for soccer next summer; she couldn't think of a sport he would enjoy better than one that allowed him to run back and forth at top speed without being burdened by equipment.

As she drizzled the chocolate over the pieces of banana she had spread out on the plate, there was a loud crash in the dining room, followed by the tentative, wary tone her son took to using when he knew he had done something that would make her upset.

"Mom?"

She closed her eyes, thinking of the hours of work she had left sitting on the table. Hours of work that, from the sound of it, Chris had knocked to the floor. She left the plate on the counter and walked out of the kitchen.

"You are in so much trouble, mister."

She stopped short when she entered the dining room. With the exception of a few stray sheets that had drifted to the floor, her papers were fine. The cabinet against the wall containing all the china, however, was not. The demon covered in glass, slowly making his way to his feet, looked a little worse for wear as well.

"Whoa." Piper shot out a hand and froze the demon before he could retaliate. "What just happened?"

Chris's eyes were wide, but it seemed to be a result of surprise more so than fear.

"I-I don't know." He replied in a dazed stutter. "He came in, and I got scared and I threw him by accident. He was saying things- I didn't mean to, mommy. I know you don't like it. My hand just worked faster than my mouth did."

"It's fine, Chris." She flipped her hair and scowled. This was becoming tiresome. "Upstairs to the attic, please."

"But what if another demon comes?" He protested.

"That's exactly why you're going to the attic." She said seriously, "It's protected right now. Go."

"But-

"Now."

He glared at her, and she glared back, until he reluctantly submitted and evanesced into the air.

She raised her hands, and then remembered she was supposed to be moving away from that habit. Her scowl deepened as she thought of a few words she wished she could give the Elders about their ridiculous sense of timing. She didn't care what Leo said; no one could be this unlucky through coincidence. It was a clear conspiracy. _They_ got off by dreaming up trials and tests for "the greater good" of their own amusement. She was a human being. A living, breathing, independent-thinking being. Her life shouldn't be theirs for manipulating.

She was tempted to keep the demon alive for interrogation purposes, but she couldn't bring herself to do so with Chris under her care. If the attacks continued once Leo and Wyatt returned home, she would consider phoning her sisters for a torture session; Paige always enjoyed those, a little _too _much in her opinion, but that was beside the point.

Piper focused back on the demon and made a conscious effort not to squint in concentration; it hadn't been an attractive look for Prue, and she wasn't trading her familiar hand motion for a habit that was arguably worse.

The demon exploded and she belatedly noticed the blast would send the remainder of her papers scattering across the dining room. Instinctively she froze the stacks in place before the gust of wind could touch them, and only afterwards did she realize her hands were still at her sides. Leo had been right – as he often was, if she was going to be truthful; not that she would ever, _ever_ tell him – once it stopped being a pain in the ass, it was kind of a neat trick.

Almost happy now, she walked purposefully toward the stairs and headed for the attic. They were almost out of the potion that mimicked her exploding power; she felt better knowing those were available to Leo when she wasn't in the house.

When she opened the attic door, Chris was flipping through a picture book, and she took a moment to stand in the doorway and watch; she had missed all his little quirks more than she could have thought possible. His eyes were intense in their concentration, and every so often she could hear him murmur aloud the words that he recognized within the text. Piper frowned when her eyes fell on the athame lying on the table; how long had that been there? Certainly not yesterday, and she hadn't touched any of them when she had been in there that morning… although, she had been admittedly sidetracked at the time. It was possible she just hadn't seen it, still, it seemed far more likely that while Chris was very innocently amusing himself now, he hadn't been before she had entered the room.

"Chris, honey, these are not toys! They're very sharp, very dangerous knives; you know better than to touch them." She admonished.

"I didn't!"

"Then how did it get here?"

"Maybe it was from when we vanquished the demon with Auntie Paige yesterday." He shrugged.

"Excuse me?" She stepped forward and took the book out of her son's hands, drawing his attention back to her. "When you did what?"

"When we came to get the clothes and more toys. A demon came and she brought him up here and me and Wyatt watched. Well, a little bit we did, but she made us leave before she killed him."

Her fist clenched automatically; oh they were going to have words, her baby sister and her. Paige knew exactly how she felt about exposing the boys to the kind of violence they dealt with. Future generation of magic be damned; they were _too_ young. There were rules that were forgivable for Paige to break, as an aunt, but she wasn't their mother. She didn't have the right to-

Then it hit her again, the same way it had downstairs in the kitchen; Chris was speaking calmly, practically nonchalantly, about demons attacking when two weeks ago he had been paralyzed by fear, and had ardently refused to discuss any of the incidents after the fact. She had briefly wondered earlier what Paige had done to help her son, and if this had been it, she couldn't hold it against her. Paige had given her back her son. Paige had taken a risk Piper would have never been able to take on her own, and she deserved thanks for it. Still, it would have been nice to have been informed.

"So you've been doing some practicing of your own, huh?" She asked instead.

He nodded excitedly, "Yep. And now I can help."

And they were back to that. Piper bit her lip and tried not to convey how much that little statement twisted inside her like a knife. Was this power liable for sparking the twenty-two year old Chris's belief that the entire family could only stand a chance with him as the protector? Was this ability the reason why he had so firmly held himself accountable for everything that went wrong? For her death? Had the future version of herself, her sisters and her husband come to rely on his gift so extensively he had come to feel solely responsible for their wellbeing; believed every event was within his power to foresee and change?

And so she finally saw it. She finally saw _exactly_ the damage she had feared would come of this gift. She saw the damage giving a child something so powerful would do. No. She would never, _never_ put that burden on him. She wouldn't let him become that person; she would not let him believe that his use of his gift was imperative to their survival. Goddamn the Elders. Goddamn them for doing this.

She sat at his side and pulled him close.

"Baby, when you're older, this power of yours is going to help you keep yourself safe. But for right now, and for years and years after now, that's my job."

"Where are you going to be after?" He asked indignantly.

"Here." She laughed, "I'll be here; where I'll always be when you need me. But when you're grown up, and you have a house of your own, I won't have to worry about you so much, because you'll be big, and strong, and able to take care of yourself."

"You'll always worry, no matter what." Chris replied confidently. "That's what dad says."

"He does, does he?" She said ruefully, "Well don't let your dad fool you; he worries just as much as I do. But what I'm trying to tell you is, you don't worry about using that power to protect anyone until you're much, much older, okay? Just because you have this gift, it doesn't mean that you have to keep us all from getting hurt; you let me worry about that. Sometimes, even your Aunt Phoebe sees bad things she can't stop from happening; and it makes her sad, but it isn't her fault. I need you to promise me you'll remember that. Promise me you'll remember that if you can't stop something from happening, if it's too fast, it won't be your fault. Sometimes things we don't want to happen, do. And all the powers in the world can't change that."

Chris nodded his understanding.

"Promise me, Christopher." Piper insisted, "This is really important."

"I promise." Chris answered sincerely.

"Good." She cleared her throat and tried to quell the sudden shaking in her hands. "Go get your snack. I left it on the counter, but you should be able to reach it."

He looked at her strangely, "But, we're not allowed to eat up here."

"I'm making an exception today." She smiled. "Hurry back. No orbing!"

The last part was tacked on at the end, just in case, and when she saw Chris frown, she knew it hadn't been unwarranted. She gave an amused shake of her head when he ran out the door, and the sound of his rapid steps echoed throughout the otherwise empty house.

* * *

_When do I get to start helping make potions?"_

"_Soon enough. Don't touch that."_

"_But you always say potions are like cooking, and you let me cook with you… why can't I help?"_

"_Because it can be dangerous, sweetheart. Don't touch that."_

"_What would happen if I put the sparkly purple stuff in there?"_

"_Nothing good, baby. Please, stop touching."_

The boys slept peacefully as she watched them from the door, and Piper tried to force herself to relax, to absorb some of their natural calm, and breathe. There was a feeling niggling at the far edge of her conscious, a persistent tingling sensation of apprehension that she couldn't explain. Phoebe may be the Charmed One with premonitions, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something devastating was on the brink of coming to pass. This inkling went beyond the nightmares, beyond her neuroticism and her natural compulsion to worry; she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she couldn't make it go away either.

She shook her head and chose to focus instead on the rhythmic rise and fall of her sons' tiny chests. They were home. She wouldn't let anything tamper with the joy that accompanied that fact. They were home, and in a few days, everything would be back to normal. Nothing else mattered.

* * *

_They stand in the hallway waiting. Some wait more patiently than others. Only one seems calm. They're restless, but they wait. They wait, because they all share a fear. He can't see what it is they're afraid of because they are all doing their best not to think about it; they need to concentrate. He does hear a name though, they can't help but think it. Lisgav. It echoes through his body in the same way it does theirs; maybe that is another part of the reason they try so hard not to think about it. It fills him with cold, and he wishes he had gone to bed with a warmer blanket. They're talking to each other without using their mouths, like he and Wyatt do, except different, because when he does it with Wyatt it is more of a feeling than actual words. He can't understand what they're saying; at first he thinks it's because there are too many of them and it's like when you're in a room full of people talking but you can't hear anyone, but then he realizes that they aren't speaking in a language he understands. His dad told him once that there are hundreds of different languages in the world, and he wonders which one this is._

_The calm demon suddenly begins speaking English, and his mouth moves with his words, so Chris blocks out the gibberish of the other demons' thoughts and focuses on what he knows._

"_Remember to target the witch first… do not underestimate her or I promise you, it will be the last thing you do. The mortal shouldn't pose a problem, not even for you." He says with disdain._

_Chris wants to shake his head, because the demons believe this stranger even though he lies. The English speaking demon knows the other demons won't stand a chance; that is why he plans on staying out of the way. He can become invisible, and he plans to, because he knows that if Piper sees him, he will die with the others._

_Chris feels a wave of pride until he realizes that the demon doesn't just plan on watching. The demon plans on killing his father. He won't try to kill his mom, because he wants to live and he isn't stupid like the other ones. But he will kill Leo because he knows he can. And he knows Lisgav wants to push the eldest witch over the edge, and this will help do it._

_The image comes to him now; the first clear one he has seen since they first appeared. He sees his parents jump out of bed almost immediately after the demons enter, and he feels his mom's anger and the heat of her explosions as if it's against his own skin, but it's not. It's the English speaking demon's eyes he sees through. The group that entered the room is quickly reduced to what appears to be none, and he wants to tell his mom that there's another one, that he's cheating because she can't see him, but he can't, because it's a movie and he can only watch._

_His mom turns to his dad and she's still angry, but before either of them can speak his dad is on the ground, and there's blood and his mom is screaming and she still can't see the demon, and then he leaves before she can figure out a way to make him visible because he knows how dangerous the Charmed Ones get when someone they love is caught in the crossfire._

_Chris needs it to end, he needs it to end because he can only interrupt what's real and not the picture, and right now the picture is taking up all the room in his head and he can't remember what he did with his aunt so that he could switch between them. His dad is going to die. His dad is going to die, and he should be protecting them but he can't make-_

Chris woke up gasping for air, and he clawed in panic at the comforter which had become tangled around his neck. His heart was beating in that funny way which made his whole body hot from the inside, and he waited for the feeling to go away before he leaned cautiously over the top bunk to peer at his brother below him.

"Wy?" He whispered.

He wasn't supposed to lean over the railing; if either of his parents saw him, he would have his week on the top taken away, but he inched a little further over regardless, and whispered slightly louder.

"Wyatt?"

But it wasn't Wyatt's voice that answered him. The demon. The one he had dreamed… only now he realized it wasn't a dream, because they were down the hall. He tried to listen with just his own ears instead of theirs, and he heard nothing; which meant that his parents, his brother, they couldn't hear anything either.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

Salutations! I really wanted to post this chapter and the next one as a solitary chapter, but I remembered my promise to never again subject you to the kind of length I did in chapter 4, haha. So, with that in mind; here is ten, and eleven will most likely be posted tomorrow. Unless I'm hungover. In that event, it will be Monday :P . Hey, at least I'm honest.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

She could feel eyes upon her. It shouldn't have been unnerving; sometimes she got the feeling Leo spent as much time watching her sleep as she did him, but this wasn't the same. It wasn't warm, it wasn't comforting. She felt cold, and she wanted to pull the covers more securely around herself. Leo's arm – draped comfortably across her middle – tightened apprehensively, and she knew he felt it too.

She listened keenly and could discern at least four different bodies invading her bedroom, and not one of them belonged to her children. Leo pushed three fingers into the skin of her lower abdomen and she carefully shifted her hip against his touch to let him know she understood the message. She counted down in time with the beat of her slow, steady pulse.

Three. Two. One.

Leo flipped the comforter off their bodies in one smooth motion and then they were both out of bed and on the nearest demon. She didn't try to turn on the light; the amount of time it would have taken for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness wasn't worth the risk. Six shadows; okay, she had been slightly off. But seriously, given she had been in a dead sleep until a minute ago, who could hold that against her?

A second, and five of the six shadows were vaporized. The sixth was too close to Leo for her to chance it; he was bound to get burned. She moved across the room to help him, but by the time she was within combat distance Leo had removed the athame from the demon's belt and plunged it through his heart. She stopped, slightly stunned – as she could never quite help being – at how efficient her seemingly pacifist husband could be when the time called for it.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. You?"

Before Leo had a chance to respond, a familiar vortex of orbs came flying into the bedroom at a very unfamiliar speed. Both boys had literally been orbing longer than they had been walking, and because of this ungraceful landings were all but nonexistent; however, the way Chris crashed into Leo, taking him out at the knees, could in no way be constituted as graceful. Chris picked himself back up, ignoring the new friction burn on his palm, and he brushed away Leo's hand when his father tried to examine it.

"There's one more, mommy. You can't see him but-

Piper felt the breeze beside her, created by another being passing by, midway through Chris's statement.

"Oh no you don't."

The blast she put forward was well placed, and there was a crash against the closet door before a stunned, but hardly maimed, demon materialized.

"Can you see him?" Chris asked anxiously, "Can everybody see him?"

The moment Piper turned her head to look at her son, his face turned white in panic.

"No! Don't!"

The demon had changed his mind; he had decided to attack Piper after all, given that they could already see him and he was only going to get one chance. There wasn't time to say any of this out loud though, and Chris could only watch as the demon prepared to launch the weapon that was certain to at least critically wound her.

What Chris didn't count on, what the demon hadn't counted on either, was the quick action of Leo. Leo, standing closest to the demon, tackled him back to the ground and caused the weapon to fly wide off its mark when it flew forward.

It was too fast. Chris had barely seen it before it was happening, and then he watched his mom cry out in pain and fall to the floor.

"Piper!"

The demon shimmered out and Leo rushed to Piper's side with his heart in his throat, but his alarm was unwarranted. She stood up on her own, looking far more pissed off than anything else, and he let out a relieved sigh.

"Damn it."

"Let me see."

"Are you okay?" Piper asked Chris instead.

Chris drank in her warm brown eyes and the forehead wrinkled in concern, and then he nodded mutely.

"Piper. Let me see."

She reluctantly pulled her hand away from her upper arm and revealed a large gash.

"Paige!" Leo called.

"No." Piper interrupted, dismissively waving him off, "Don't wake her up, it's not that bad. It's my own fault anyway, I wasn't paying attention."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She answered resignedly, "I'll call her and Phoebe tomorrow. We need to track down whoever the hell that last guy was. I know I've said this before, but this is really getting out of hand."

"Tallis." Chris spoke up timidly for the first time. "That's what all the other ones called him."

"Thank you." She managed a more or less genuine smile. If it weren't for having kids, she would have never understood how people could possibly force themselves to smile when on the inside they were so frustrated they wanted nothing more than to hurl a chair through a closed window. "You did really good, honey."

Leo disappeared into their bathroom and came out with bandages and gauze.

"I'll be fine, Leo, really." Piper insisted. "Get Chris back in bed."

"I wanna stay." Chris said adamantly.

"Oh, sweetie."

Piper's instinctive reaction was to reassure him via touch, but a quick look at her bloodstained palm made her change her mind. Chris had been traumatized enough within the last few weeks to last a lifetime.

"It goes too fast when I'm in my room; I thought it was a dream. But I won't get it wrong again, mom. I promise; just let me stay and I'll do a really really good job."

"Chris, honey we talked about this." Piper said gently.

"But you need me."

"Of course I need you, always. But they won't be coming back sweetheart; not tonight anyway. So you don't need to worry. If you're scared-

"I'm not scared." He answered immediately.

"Then you need to go back to your bed." She insisted.

Chris looked to his father, but Leo too appeared to be in agreement. In a last ditched effort to change her mind, he adopted the persona of one of the few people he knew to be capable of persuading his mother to do things she didn't initially want to do.

"Piper." He said firmly, pursing his lips together and folding his arms across his chest in a comical imitation of the stance he had seen Leo take so many times.

Piper's eyebrows shot up, and while she opened her mouth with the intention of telling him to watch his tone, she ended up bursting into a fit of incredulous laughter instead. Beside her, she could hear Leo chuckle to himself as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Where did you learn to do that?" She asked when she could speak without laughing. She exchanged a rueful smile with her husband; she could only imagine.

Chris flushed; being laughed at hadn't exactly been the reaction he anticipated. "Nowhere." He muttered, embarrassed.

"Uh huh. Well, I think you should maybe stick to 'mom' from now on, hmm?"

Chris gave a dejected nod.

"Alright." Piper snickered again, not quite past the image of her four year old so resolutely mimicking Leo. She put it to the back of her mind – with some difficulty – and finished her instructions. "Bed! Now, buddy. Go with daddy."

"But if I stay here then I can save everybody and nobody will get hurt ever. I can help, really, I can do it!"

In the silence that ensued, Chris shifted uneasily and his gaze darted anxiously between his parents. He didn't know what he had said that was so bad, but they weren't laughing anymore. They both looked kind of like they might cry. Even daddy. Especially daddy.

Piper cleared her throat, and Chris's heart sank when she began to speak, because her voice wasn't even angry; it was sad, and that was worse.

"We believe you, baby. And I'm so, so glad you aren't scared anymore. But right now, right this very second, the best way you can help is by going to bed, and remembering that you're four."

She was smiling at him, but her face was too red. Like how Wyatt's face looked the time he had slammed his hand in daddy's toolbox, but he hadn't wanted to cry because daddy had already told him not to touch it twice and he hadn't wanted to get in trouble.

"I'm sorry." He said forlornly. He didn't know what he was apologizing for, but he must have done something terrible to make them look at him the way they were looking at him now.

With that, Piper and Leo snapped out of it at the exact same time.

"Don't be silly; you haven't done anything wrong." Piper laughed lightly. She crouched in front of him and placed a loving kiss on his forehead, careful to keep a hand covering the wound that was still slowly leaking blood.

"Do you want to play airplane?" Leo asked him.

His father's eyes sparkled, and Chris relaxed.

"Yeah!" He grinned.

He let out an elated shriek when Leo effortlessly hoisted him high above his head within the span of a second; one hand supporting his chest, and the other keeping his legs straight behind him.

"Fast!" Chris gleefully commanded, spreading his arms as far as they would reach.

He giggled with wild abandon as Leo zoomed him down the hall to his own room.

Piper busied herself first with tending to her arm, and then with picking up the two athames that had been dropped to the floor in the scuffle, along with the third one imbedded in the wall; the one that had hit her. She wrinkled her nose when she saw the tip coated in her blood… nearly eleven years, and despite the indifferent face she could muster around her sisters, she still hated the sight of it.

She could close her eyes and still hear her son scream like he had on that first day; that day that seemed like yesterday and last year all at the same time. She was eternally grateful to Paige for helping him conquer that fear. That being said, Chris taking every injury sustained by a loved one as a personal failure was an unacceptable tragedy as well. She had assumed earlier that it was her doing, her future misjudgement, that had served to develop Chris's skewed sense of responsibility. She hadn't considered the possibility that his bottomless heart, his love for his family and his high expectation of himself, would inevitably build guilt regardless of her influence. Either way, this gift was going to kill everything that was innocent and sweet and carefree about her child, and she could only think of one thing to do about it.

* * *

Leo sat in the undersized chair at his sons' desk until he was certain Chris had fallen back asleep. He was well aware that the older his son became, the more mannerisms he was likely to exhibit that would remind them all of the adult Chris. He knew this, but he hoped it got easier as the years passed. He had to believe it would. And he and Piper needed to learn to endure those unexpected moments even if they should be painful, because Chris – Chris, asleep in the top bunk with the covers pulled over his head and one pyjama-clad leg poking its way free at the bottom – deserved to become the person he was destined to be, and they were going to give him a complex by having simultaneous near-breakdowns at what would be, from Chris's perspective, complete random.

He treaded lightly out of the room and frowned when he didn't find Piper down the hall; he heard a pot clang, and then the muffled grumblings of his wife, and he followed the noises to the kitchen.

When he rounded the corner she had the Book of Shadows spread out on the island in front of her, and she jotted something down on the notepad to her right before tossed a mint leaf into the pot.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"Making a potion."

"I see that." He laughed. "What's it for?"

She didn't answer him, and under other circumstances he would assume she was already too involved in her task to hear him. But that wasn't the case. Her cheeks were beginning to turn pink, and the tempo of her hands was much more rapid than it had been seconds ago; she wouldn't lie, because he could always tell when she did that, so she was staying quiet and hoping he didn't ask questions; which meant whatever it was she was doing, he wasn't going to be happy about it.

"Piper?" Leo repeated warily, "What's it for?"

"It's a binding potion." She muttered, not daring to look him in the eye.

"What?"

She flinched at his tone and put her hands in her pockets to keep him from seeing how badly they were shaking.

"I'm, I'm trying to change it. I think I can fix it so that he can keep the whitelighter powers and his telekinesis."

"You're not binding his powers." Leo said firmly, "Not any of them. Even if you were going to – which you're not – you can't pick and choose which abilities to bind; that's not the way it works, you're not that powerful. Maybe, _maybe_ it could be done with blood from all three of you, but you're wasting time right now in more ways than I can count."

She felt her own irritation building, "Don't talk to me like I'm stupid. I can do this; I know I can."

He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and shook his head, "I don't know what gets into you sometimes. What the hell are you thinking?"

She slammed her palms down on the countertop. "I'm thinking about what just happened upstairs."

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, trying hard to reign in the anger he could feel building beneath his skin. He didn't like being angry, he didn't like feeling as if his body was no longer his to control, but somehow she managed to make him feel this way time, and time again.

"He had such distorted views of his responsibility within his timeline. What if, what if _we _did that to him? What if, because he's always seemed so bright and mature for his age, we allowed him to use his gift too young, and it screwed him up big time?"

"Then we don't make that mistake this time around." He replied slowly. Simply. He didn't trust himself to say more than that.

"We have to do this. We have to stop this from happening again. It's our only choice."

"You're not thinking straight."

"Don't tell me how I'm thinking!"

"You think this is going to solve everything? You think things will just go back to being okay after this?"

He was angry, furious, and she refused to allow herself to dwell on why; he was finally getting what he had wanted in the first place…at least, that's the way she was choosing to justify it to herself. She deftly pivoted around him as he tried to block her access to the stove, and then told him as much.

"This was what you originally wanted, remember?"

"That's not fair." He replied fiercely, "You can't bring things I said six years ago into an argument we're having now. A lot has changed since then. _We've_ changed. The way we think has changed. We weren't parents before; we are now, and we know better. We're not doing this."

"It won't be forever! I would never do that to him!"

"Until when then, Piper?! You tell me; how old will Chris be before he's fit to handle this? You take the power away, you're going to have to be the one to give it back. At what age are you going to bring yourself to giving our son back a power that you will only remember as torturing him? At what age are you going to stop seeing him as a preschooler, and decide he no longer needs your constant protection?"

She didn't answer, because she knew he was right. Because she knew it would only get harder with each year that passed to give it back. Because she knew she would never stop seeing him as a child that needed protecting. Because she wanted to do this anyway.

"When, Piper?" He repeated loudly.

"Stop it." She whispered.

"Stop what?"

"Stop yelling at me! Stop _looking_ at me like, like, like I'm a _demon _or something."

The potion on the stove began bubbling over, and she swore as she turned down the heat and peered into the pot, desperately hoping it was salvageable. It wasn't.

"Damn it Leo." She yelled, hurling the useless mess of goo into the sink.

"I'm not apologizing." He shook his head, "Not for this. Not ever."

"You don't have to; I'm starting again." She snapped shortly, grabbing a new pot from beneath the sink and setting it determinedly atop a burner.

"No, you're not."

He reached around her and switched off the dial, then slammed the book closed.

Piper stubbornly pulled the book away from him and flipped it back open. Without looking up she froze him in place before he could try and take it again.

Take that, Leo.

She did her best to work quickly, before the guilt she was fighting to suppress over her actions succeeded in clawing its way to the surface. Rosemary. If she added more rosemary, and less wormroot, and maybe a little vanilla bean and honey to help it go down smoother and keep Chris from complaining about the taste…

She paused; she really was insane. Not only had she frozen Leo mid screaming match – something she honestly tried not to do, given that the hostile mood it always put him in once he realized what she had done made it hardly worth it – but now she was both literally and figuratively sugar-coating a potion that was going to take away a piece of her son. And he would drink it with little protest, because he trusted her. He had just adjusted to his new ability, and she was going to rip the rug right out from under him and force him back to square one a few years down the road.

"…_it could make sense to bind his powers."_

"_Yeah, maybe we could just take off one of his legs at the same time, because you know, they're both part of him."_

Piper hadn't thought about Tyler in a long time, but she had checked in on him a little over a year ago at one of his high-school basketball games. Gone was the baby faced adolescent she had coached; in his place had stood a lanky teenager who towered over her and raced back and forth on the court with an easy confidence he hadn't possessed the last time she had seen him. He had waved when he spotted her, and in his bright smile she had seen a part of the child she had known. Tyler was happy; he worried about chemistry tests and homecoming games and girls, and nothing more than that would touch him. He wouldn't ask for his powers back; she had only needed to watch him a few minutes to know that. Perhaps that was his destiny, but she knew it wasn't her son's.

"…_when we finally got our powers back, I felt like we were scrambling to catch up."_

She sighed in defeat. She was glad Leo didn't always know what got into her, because sometimes she didn't either. She was tempted to just leave him in the kitchen and lock herself in their bedroom, but a sliver of conscience won out and she decided that, despite being tired, sorting this out now would require a lot less energy than what it took for them to stay mad at each other for days. She turned on the kettle and put away the ingredients littering the counter, then she took her time scrubbing out the pot she had nearly burnt beyond repair.

By the time the water had boiled, Piper had returned the book to its rightful place in the attic and restored order to her kitchen. She fixed two cups of tea and stepped carefully around Leo to set them on the kitchen table. When she was seated, she curled her fingers around the warm mug and unfroze him.

Leo's hands moved forward on the counter, "We can keep doing this all night-

His hands met air instead of the book that had just been moved out of his reach by his wife, and she watched him immediately look to the microwave clock, his eyes filled with outrage. It was a reaction that wasn't even remotely surprising; he was going to be pissed. Piper turned her head slightly and stared at the open doorway with obvious desire; there was a part of her – a very tiny part – that wished she _had _just made a break for the bedroom.

"Half an hour? Are you kidding me?" He snapped, "I hate it when you do that. I hate it."

"I made tea." She said, gesturing to the mug sitting across from her. She fixed the brightest smile she could manage on her face, knowing that sometimes, it was all the effort that was required to make Leo laugh and forget how angry he was with her. But trying to bind their child's powers without his consent, without even consulting him, it wasn't the same as accidentally scratching the paint off his truck while taking down Wyatt's bike in the garage. It wasn't the kind of offense that could be pardoned with a grin. He folded his arms across his chest and glared back.

She dropped the playful act and opted for humble honesty instead.

"I didn't finish it. I hardly even started. You were right; I wasn't thinking."

He grudgingly moved away from the counter and sat in the seat across from her.

"I'm really angry with you."

"I know."

"That was a stupid thing to try and do."

"I know."

"You can't make decisions like that without me."

"I know."

His pulse was still racing, and he struggled to release his anger. It was one reason out of many why her freezes exhausted his patience; it gave her time to calm down, and then he was forced to try and go from sixty to zero in the span of what had only been seconds for him. There were a million things he could have said, wanted to say, but he decided to let it die. To let it fall into the bottomless chasm of ridiculous things they have said and done to each other when emotions were high.

"Don't do it again, Piper." He said seriously.

"I won't." She promised.

They sipped their tea in silence, with the hum of the refrigerator in the otherwise still kitchen for company.

* * *

Paige arrived well ahead of Phoebe the next morning, having – conveniently – received her boss's answering machine when she called to make the usual excuses for her absence. Phoebe, unfortunately, hadn't found the same measure of luck when she phoned Elise. The jeep wasn't in the driveway when she pulled in; Leo must have left early with Wyatt and Chris. She agilely balanced the coffee tray in one hand and her purse in the other, then kicked the car door closed and headed into the house.

"Marco!" She called loudly.

"Polo."

Piper's amused response drifted down from the attic, and she ran up the stairs two at a time.

"Morning!" She called brightly as she walked through the open door, "I brought lattes. You have your choice between vanilla, and chai."

"Chai." Piper answered immediately. "Where's Phoebe?"

Paige shrugged as she handed over the beverage. "Elise is chewing her out. It could take awhile."

"I see. That actually works out well; I needed to talk to you anyway."

"Oh yeah?" Paige asked curiously, tossing her purse on the couch. "What about?"

Piper casually removed the athame she had kept hidden behind her back and twirled it between her fingers.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

Paige froze. _Crap_.

"Well… okay, _maybe_ I crossed a line or two while I was taking care of Chris and Wyatt, but! I swear on all our lives I was careful. And anyway-

"You don't have to defend yourself Paige." Piper cut in smoothly. "I'm not mad. I just wanted to say thanks. You've got a big heart."

Paige stopped abruptly. "Oh. In that case, you're welcome. Not gonna lie, I thought it was going to take a lot more grovelling on my part to bring you around."

Piper shook her head, "I was upset for all of fifteen seconds before I realized what an incredible thing you had done for him." She gave a bittersweet laugh, "He handled the ones yesterday so calmly… whatever you did, it was amazing."

"Then why do you still look kind of like you want to hit something?" Paige asked cautiously.

"I don't; really. I'm just… frustrated. That's all. What else is new right? How about you missy? Have you mended fences with your very cute, equally aggravating husband?"

Paige glared, "I'm still mad."

Piper tilted her head curiously, "That's not like you. I'm the grudge holder of this family."

"It was a pretty big mistake on his part."

"We all make those sometimes." Piper answered, last night's argument with Leo jumping to mind. Whatever Henry had done couldn't compare to what she almost had, and if Leo could forgive even her, Paige should be able to forgive Henry. Not that she could tell her sister that; she was too ashamed of her actions to let the details travel further than between her and Leo.

"Yeah well, he can sit and think about it for awhile. So, have you found anything in the book?"

Piper swivelled the pedestal so that the book faced her sister, and then she pointed to the entry on the right.

"Tallis. Just like Chris said. He's an upper level demon, and a highly competent soldier from what I can gather; he was one of the sources assassins, but he seems to have fallen off the map since then; I mean, we've never heard of him. It makes me a little nervous, how closely his entry reads to that of a certain other upper level, soldier/source assassin that we used to know? He came very close to catching me off guard last night."

"My nephew is such a quick study." Paige beamed proudly.

"Yeah, great Paige. Don't encourage him; he's already convinced himself that he's going to "save" everyone now. Does that sound familiar to you at all?"

Paige shrugged, "It's normal to want to protect the people you love; his age doesn't change that."

"Normal is one word I wouldn't use to describe the situation." Piper scoffed.

"Piper, I know you miss being normal, hell, I miss it too sometimes, but you can't miss what you've never had. Wyatt and Chris have never known a life without demons and powers. _This_, is normal for them, and they're too young to want any differently. It'll probably be years before they really understand how different they are from other families. They aren't worried about being normal; and until they are, you shouldn't be either."

"Wow. You need to stay off that bridge." Piper quipped, although her words were softened by the smile on her face. "Something in the air up there is making you sound like a whitelighter."

"I _am_ a whitelighter."

"I mean a real one."

Before Paige could make her indignant response, they heard Phoebe's footsteps coming up the stairs to the attic.

"Morning!"

Paige passed her sister the last remaining paper cup and took a cautious sip from her own, trying to avoid burning herself for the third time since leaving the coffee shop.

"How's Elise?"

Phoebe ignored the mocking twist of Piper's mouth. "You keep quiet. Where's the demon we're killing?"

She moved across the room to read the entry Piper was pointing out to her. The further down the page she read, the deeper the crease between her eyes became. When she was finished she looked at her sisters in concern.

"He sounds almost like-

"Like Cole, we know." Paige finished. "Which means he's probably going to be a tough bastard to kill."

Piper turned the book back toward herself and studied the entry intently. "We don't want to kill him just yet… he's the first upper level we've seen in whatever's going on here. He might actually know something useful."

"Upper Level demons aren't exactly known for helping Good." Paige pointed out. "He'd probably rather kill himself than give in to us."

"Then we'll make him wish he could." Piper said determinedly.

* * *

He hadn't killed the mortal. Or the witch. The first time in a month he was given opportunity to do something more than watch, and he had nothing. He was itching to put his skills to good use; he craved a good kill. Lisgav was the least of his worries. Lisgav would take no issue with the way events had transpired the night before… he had wounded the Charmed One even if he hadn't managed to kill her, and that was more than any of the others had done to this point. It was Tallis himself that was uncharacteristically furious and impatient. He could do reconnaissance work, he could enjoy it, but he had no tolerance for his own failure.

"Tallis?"

"What is it?" He snapped.

The demons stepped forward, both of them. These bottom feeders where incapable of individual thought or action. They travelled everywhere in pairs and tried to validate the asinine questions of one another with their presence. An order was an order, and he would command what remained of this group until Lisgav directed him elsewhere, but he couldn't wait to interact with real forces of darkness again. The mere presence of these beings was slowly dulling his senses.

"We were wondering how much longer our services are going to be required."

The first demon – Tallis had long since abandoned any effort at all to learn names – paused and looked to his partner, who urged him onward with a nervous nod. Tallis resisted the impulse to kill them both.

"We also wondered if we might target one of the other Charmed Ones. One with a primary power not quite as efficient at, well, killing us."

Tallis smiled and refrained from tearing the first demon's head clean from his shoulders. Instead he let the energy ball form slowly in his hands, savouring its long absent feel on his palm, and then he tossed it indifferently and took a step back, patiently waiting for the screams and burning flesh to run their course. Once the smoke cleared and silence reigned within the chamber, Tallis turned to the second demon.

"As you can see, your friend's services were rendered 'no longer required.'" He explained calmly. "I do my best to accommodate those under my command. If anyone else has similar requests, please, tell them to bring it to my attention; I'll address it in an equally quick and final manner. Do you understand?"

The demon nodded his head emphatically.

"Leave me."

As the demon scampered away and left Tallis wishing he could kill something that would provide at least a minor challenge, a slow clap began behind him, and Lisgav stepped away from the rock wall.

"Well done, Tallis."

Tallis cleared his throat, "My apologies. It wasn't my place."

"Nonsense; I would have killed both of them. But I'm going to assume, based on your actions, that last night was less than successful?"

"It was successful. None of ours survived, not unsurprisingly. I wounded the witch, but her whitelighter sister probably healed her already." He said disgustedly.

"So no one was killed." Lisgav surmised.

"Not one. Their boy saw to that."

"Take heart, Tallis." Lisgav said cheerfully. "I admittedly thought the odds were strongly in your favour for a kill yesterday, but it's of little consequence. You can observe the attack this afternoon, and report to me anything… different… from the others."

His eyes danced, and Tallis couldn't for the life of him imagine what could be different about the way the chosen demon would get his ass kicked today, as opposed to the way all the other demons had before him.

"Different, sir?"

"You'll know it, Tallis." Came the confident answer, "You'll know it."

Bright lights suddenly infiltrated the darkened cavern, and both demons instinctively shied away from it. The glow encircled Tallis, and despite his efforts to resist the pull it swallowed him and cut the conversation with Lisgav short.

Lisgav grinded his teeth; he wasn't so naïve as to have believed the witches would have never happened upon Tallis, but he hadn't thought it would be so soon.

"Damn them." He muttered.

* * *

Tallis wasn't surprised when he came to form in the Charmed Ones' attic. They were the only source of good magic who could call him so easily. The three witches were crouched on the floor at his feet, and he lunged at the one closest to him. She moved out of his reach in the nick of time, and when he penetrated the barrier formed by the crystal she had left near him, he received a violent shock. He grunted, but made no further sound; in a way, it served him right for so foolishly testing the cage.

"Hi there."

The eldest witch was leaning casually against the table now, her features a very careful mask of indifference. Out of the three of them she struggled the hardest against her natural abilities, but he knew to take her seriously. He knew how dangerous she could be, and he knew the other two weren't far behind her. He wasn't leaving this room alive; like so many demons before him, he was going to die in the Halliwell attic.

"Not too talkative, are you?" She pushed herself off the table and circled the cage at a slow, deliberate pace. Her sisters flanked her on both sides, at the ready should their sudden action be required. "That's okay. You don't have to say much. But, what you do say, it better count for something. Or things will get very messy for you. I promise you that."

"Do your worst witch." He responded, drawing himself to his full height. "Torture won't work. And you can't vanquish me without a piece of flesh."

He observed the look of shock on the middle witch's face and allowed himself a thin smile. "You look surprised. The Charmed Ones have been using the same trick for years; word spreads. And I am most certain I can kill at least one of you should you come close enough to lay a knife on me."

"Who said we have to?" Piper replied calmly.

He stared back with something akin to curiosity, but he didn't need to wait long. She smiled at him brightly, and then his arm erupted and sent chunks of gore flying every which way. It was too much of a shock for the pain to register immediately, but when it did, it was all he could do to keep from cursing at them with everything he had. He roared in agony and then panted furiously in an attempt to find a way to bury it. Yes, they were dangerous indeed. Behind the lip-gloss and human relationships and insensible footwear there lay strong magic, and if Lisgav was to succeed, he would have to endure every ounce of it.

* * *

Piper's fist clenched underneath the table, and she shifted in her seat so that she could sit on her restless hands. Paige caught her eye after she watched Phoebe throw a new round of ammo against the cage, and she knew her sister's frustration matched her own. This wasn't working. Tallis couldn't even stand anymore; he was sitting cross legged on the floor with his eyes closed, cradling what remained of his severed limb. Close to an hour had passed; they had given up on standing together and were now taking turns doing the interrogation individually, but he hadn't said another word after his vow to get at least one of them should they come close enough. Paige's eyes drifted longingly to the vanquishing potion Piper and Phoebe had made during Paige's turn with Tallis, and she reluctantly looked away when Piper gave her a look that pointedly told her to give Phoebe a chance, and stop thinking about killing him.

"You took off his arm too soon." Paige commented as Phoebe tried again, "You pissed him off."

"He challenged us." Piper snapped irritably, "He had it coming."

"I'm just saying."

"Well don't."

A new cry of pain came from the cage, and Piper and Paige looked up hopefully, but when they saw the subtle shake of Phoebe's head, their shoulders slumped. After many more failed efforts, Phoebe finally stomped over to the table and paced edgily in front of it.

"Can we please just kill him? He's not going to give us anything. It's like the more we torture him the more we further his determination _not_ to talk. He's a soldier; I mean let's be realistic here, torturing lower levels is one thing, but can you imagine us torturing Cole and actually getting results? I don't think so."

"She's right." Paige said, defeat colouring her tone. "We're wasting time with him."

"Who else do you suggest we pass the time with, then?" Piper asked, "It's not like we're running with a lot of leads here."

As they each became lost in their own thoughts, the front door slammed and the low rumble of Leo's voice, followed by the slightly tinny echo of Chris's, floated upwards through the open attic door. Obviously, this was taking longer than she had expected. She had assumed everything from the interrogation to the vanquish would be finished by the time they came home, but she wasn't overly concerned… Chris would be okay, especially if the demon was caged.

_Chris._

She looked at her sisters, who were having an intense argument between themselves with their eyes, unaware she was now watching. Piper didn't need to ask what they were arguing about; it was about her. It was about which of the two of them was going to make the suggestion aloud.

"No." She said aggressively. "Absolutely not."

"Piper-

"_No_." Her voice shook with anger, "I said no, Phoebe. He knows about Chris, about what he can do. He's going to intentionally imagine every violent fantasy he's ever had about killing us and completely overload his head. It could actually hurt him, and then everything Paige did to help will have been for nothing."

"Seeing Chris might throw him off too badly to even think of that. He'll panic; what's the first thing anyone thinks about when they tell themselves _not_ to think about something?" Phoebe mused.

"_Might_? Might isn't good enough. This is crazy."

"How about we vote?"

Piper's eyes flashed and Phoebe instinctively put a hand between her older and younger sister, "She's kidding, Piper."

"It wasn't funny. None of this is funny; I pushed him out of my body, I decide what he will and won't do with his powers. The Power of Three doesn't get to share my kids' magic just because it shares mine."

"Chris was a caesarean." Paige corrected absently.

"What?"

"You didn't actually push… nevermind."

Paige shook her head and focused; she didn't want to get punched by her sister, but judging from the look on Piper's face, that was precisely the direction this was headed in if she didn't work really hard on editing what came out of her mouth.

"There isn't another choice." Phoebe insisted gently, "We're all going to be here with him; there is literally no safer place he can be than with the three of us."

"Five seconds ago you were ready to kill Tallis and have it over with."

"Five seconds ago I thought we had exhausted all our options."

"And we have. This? This is not an option. No."

"The way I see it, we have two choices right now." Paige began slowly, "We can kill Tallis, and ride out these little attacks until Lisgav finally makes his move – risking being totally blindsided – or we can use Chris, just this once, and push ourselves ahead. It's not fair Piper, for you, and especially not for Chris, but that's the way it is."

"Or, we could just vanquish Tallis now, and use Phoebe's spells to summon and vanquish Lisgav one time."

"You know that's a bad idea. Tallis is proof of that; I mean vanquishing him might help, but it's not going to do a whole hell of a lot if he's already set some epic master plan in motion. We have no idea what the bigger picture is."

Piper was silent for a moment, and Phoebe and Paige held their breath as she chewed her lip indecisively, hoping against hope she might be reconsidering.

"If Leo says no, we drop this." She said firmly. "I don't even know why I'm considering it. I must be out of my mind."

They nodded their heads solemnly, and Piper pushed her chair back with a lot more force than was necessary. She strode out of the attic and made sure to close the door behind her.

* * *

Piper found Leo and Chris in the boys' bedroom; the door was closed, which was rare, but Leo had probably closed it in an effort to at least muffle the voice of the demon upstairs for Chris. She rested her fingers against the cold metal of the knob and tried to work up the courage to enter the room.

"_Daddy, you're cheating."_

"_Chris, I've told you like a hundred times that just because you're not winning, doesn't mean everyone else is cheating."_

"_I didn't say everyone, I said just you."_

"_How am I cheating?"_

"_I don't know, but you are. Mommy says you cheat all the time."_

"_That's because your mom doesn't like losing any more than you do."_

Piper finally forced herself to turn the doorknob and make her presence known.

"Hi mom!" Chris grinned, "Are you almost done?"

"Not quite, honey." She smiled, "What are you up to?"

"We're just playing."

"Would you mind if I borrowed your dad for a minute? Will you be okay in here by yourself?"

Chris nodded. "Uh huh."

"We'll just be in our room if you need us, okay?"

Chris nodded again, but he was already involved in a new game with his action figures. Leo followed her into the hall and left Chris's door ajar.

When she closed their bedroom door softly her eyes began to fill with hot, angry tears before she even had a chance to explain their situation to Leo. It _was_ unfair. And she was tired of the unfair things always being at her expense. At her children's expense. When was it going to be enough?

"Piper?" Leo interrupted her thoughts as gently as he could.

The faraway expression on her face slipped away as she focused her eyes on his.

"What's wrong?"

"I have to ask your opinion on something. And I don't think you're going to be happy about it."

Her words rolled off her tongue slowly; a deliberate tone she had used more often when she was younger, and wary of saying the wrong thing. It put him on edge; he wasn't used to hearing her talk to him like that.

"You can ask me anything."

She cleared her throat and kept her eyes fixed on the curtains behind his head, because she couldn't look directly at his face. "Phoebe and Paige don't think there's any possible way to get anything useful from Tallis through torture. They think the only way to get something of consequence is by getting Chris to read his mind."

"And what do you think?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. They've made their opinion clear, and I want to hear yours."

He paused; he tried to believe that things happened for a reason. Piper saw that as optimism, but for him, it was a survival mechanism. For him, it was a way to make sense of the overabundance of bad things that had happened in their lives. It didn't make any of the bad any easier, but there were a lot of good things that had ultimately come of them. And not even Piper would change any of the bad if she thought it would risk the good that they had found in the present. Maybe they were precariously balanced on the brink of something more terrible than any of them realized right now; maybe, were it not for this power, the girls wouldn't have the warning that they would need in order to defeat it. There wasn't a soul in the universe that could do a better job of protecting Chris than his wife, he was confident in that, and he was equally confident in his son's ability to adapt to any stress placed on him. Whether it was fair to ask so much of someone so young was debateable, but if anyone could handle it, if anyone could look into that demon's black mind only to come back from it and beg to go outside and play five minutes later, it was Chris. He was resilient.

"I think it will be okay." He answered finally.

"How can you say that?" She asked softly, and Leo winced at the betrayed tone.

"Honey, you're going to be right there. And if it becomes too difficult for him, you can end it quickly. If this is truly the only shot you conceivably have, I have to believe he'll be okay. Everything-

"I swear to God Leo, if you end that sentence with 'happens for a reason,' I will lose it."

"Come on; this is me you're talking to." He smiled wanly. "I know better than that. I was going to say, everything he does is exceptional for his age; the children in this family are growing up amongst the most extraordinary adults in the world, there's a lot of influence in that. Laura, Wyatt, Chris… whoever else comes along, they're all going to develop a lot quicker because of their surroundings, and if you keep comparing them to normal children, you're going to drive yourself crazy."

"I feel like…" she ran a hand through her hair as she searched for the right words, "…like, I'm failing him. His power was out of control, and Paige helped him with that, and I'm grateful, I really am, but it bothers me that she had to step up to the plate because I was busy freaking out over my own powers. And now he's got everything all backwards and thinks it's his job to protect us, and while I'm trying to set him straight, now I have to go down the hall and essentially tell him, 'remember what I said about handling this for you? Yeah, I lied. Really, I'm placing the continuing existence of the Halliwell line on your shoulders, because, if you don't figure out what the demon upstairs has got going on in his head, we're all screwed.'"

Leo laughed, "Chris comes by his flair for drama honestly."

"Why does everyone keep making jokes? I'm serious."

"I know you are. And I'm admittedly nervous, but if this is the only way…" He paused uncertainly, "I have a bad feeling. I can't really explain it, but something seems… wrong. I want you to be careful."

She swallowed as the wary tingle travelled up her spine anew. So it wasn't just her; Leo felt it too. That should be comforting, but somehow it made it worse. For her to read too deeply into a vague foreboding sensation was expected, to see Leo have the same reaction validated the feeling and convinced her it was more than paranoia.

"I will."

He pulled her into a hug, and she could feel every tense muscle in his back through the thin material of his shirt.

"Paige and Phoebe are waiting." She murmured when he didn't release her.

Finally he stepped back and gave her a sheepish grin, "There's one good thing to be seen in this."

"And what would that be?"

"I think it's safe to assume that if nothing exploded when Phoebe and Paige suggested using Chris, there is absolutely no danger of you losing control of your power. If anything was going to set you off, that would have been it."

She wasn't ready to laugh yet, so she rolled her eyes and gave him a tiny smile that told him she wasn't okay, but she would be soon.

"I'll get Chris."


	11. Chapter 11

Here's eleven! Oh, just to clear things up a bit in case anyone else was wondering where Wyatt was during last chapter's events, the attack was super late at night/early morning, so I just let him sleep through that (afterall, Chris only woke up because he could hear the demons), and he was still at school at the end of the chapter. Sorry for the confusion. I don't really know how the system works in California (or any of the other states) but where I live, Wyatt and Chris would BOTH be in Kindergarten already… Wyatt in senior K, and Chris in Junior K. I scrapped the Junior K thing and just left Chris in preschool because I wasn't sure if junior Kindergarten was standard everywhere else, so Chris went with Wyatt and Leo to take Wyatt to school, and then he came back to the manor with Leo. Keri; bear with me, I promise I'll come back to it ;) .

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"Mommy, I want down."

Chris swung his legs impatiently, and Piper tightened her grip on his body.

"Not a chance." She said sternly. "I put you down, and you're going to go charging in there at full speed and give me a heart attack. You have to do exactly as I say, okay?"

"If I promise, then can I walk in by myself?"

She reluctantly set him on his own two feet, and swiftly grabbed the back of his shirt when he immediately reached for the doorknob.

"You're _sure_ this is okay? You're not scared? How about we practice a little bit? What's he thinking about right now?"

Chris tilted his head to one side and listened carefully, "He's wondering where you went. And now he's thinking about his arm hurting and calling you names. Mom, what's a who-

"Good! That's really good, sweetie." Piper cut in quickly. "And you're sure you aren't scared? Because you don't have to do this…"

"Can we go inside now?"

"Okay. But you stay between your aunts and I, understood? One wrong move, and I'll carry you for the rest of your life."

"Dad says when sentences get ended with 'the rest of life,' it's a saggeration."

Piper raised an eyebrow, "Do you want to find out?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. Hold my hand please."

* * *

Despite Chris's bravado, the moment she pushed open the door his grip on her hand tightened. He had never talked much around people he didn't know well; he liked to stand near Piper, Leo, or whoever happened to be familiar and simply observe while Wyatt chatted enough for both of them. Obviously, demons were in a category of their own, but without Wyatt around to turn it into a game, approaching the being trapped in the cage brought out the most shy and wary parts of her son.

Phoebe and Paige sprung from their seats when she led him into the room, but she shook her head at them and headed straight for their makeshift prison. She didn't need to hear anyone else reassuring her that everything would be okay; right now, she just wanted to get the answers they needed, and then get her child the hell out of this room.

There was no masking the sudden fear that came over Tallis's face when he saw the young child enter the dwelling, and as Piper approached, Chris in tow, he painfully brought himself to his feet once more. This would not end well. The last time he had seen the boy, his inability to handle the images that bombarded his mind had brought him to the ground in pain and tears. From his stance alone it was obvious he had learned to handle the new gift, however maybe there was a chance he could still…

Chris winced and grabbed a hold of her wide belt with his free hand, and Piper glared into the cage. She didn't have time for it now, but later, later she was going to tell Phoebe, _I told you so._

"Hey."

The cold, simmering rage in her tone seized the demon's attention, and he turned shrewd eyes her way.

"Knock it off. Or you'll lose the other arm."

Chris relaxed against her body, but he didn't lighten his two handed hold on her. She ran her thumb soothingly back and forth over the back of his hand, and Phoebe and Paige took their places at her right and left side.

"This won't work." Tallis scoffed, but his nervous agitation was obvious to all of them, not just Phoebe. "Lisgav keeps his plan very close at hand; I know nothing."

"We'll see." Piper said with an indifferent toss of her hair.

Paige, at the ready as always with the small wooden box of arsenal, asked the first question.

"How many of you are left under Lisgav?"

Tallis merely smiled, but the gesture – mocking as it was – seemed to take a lot out of him. The three witches turned to Chris, and he tilted his head back to look at each of their faces before frowning and shaking his head.

"I don't understand."

"What don't you understand, honey?" Piper asked patiently.

Chris chewed his lip, "I don't understand the words. It's not like how we talk."

Paige threw a handful of the shells against the cage, despite their knowledge that it wouldn't actually serve to make him talk. She was hoping the temporary jolt of pain caused just enough of a concentration slip for Chris to hear, or see, something of use.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to speak in a language the whole room can't understand?" She quipped. "English only please. How many?"

This time she threw the shells upon the cage at the same time as she asked the question, and this time, when she looked to Chris, he looked back and answered with confidence.

"Forty."

"What is he planning? What are these attacks leading to?"

For this question, Tallis wasn't required to come up with an elaborate, evasive strategy on the spot; he genuinely didn't know. It was part of the brilliance of Lisgav's plan… a piece of it he hadn't understood at first, but he had caught on quickly. He was given tasks at a step by step pace in order to ensure any setbacks, occurring on account of the Charmed Ones' new toy, would be minimal.

"I don't know." He answered smugly.

"He doesn't know." Chris said aloud unnecessarily. Piper, Phoebe and Paige had only needed to take one look at the demon's cocky expression in order to realize on their own that he was indeed telling the truth.

They needed to pull a memory; the questions they had been asking only required quick, numerical thought from the top of his head, but if they asked the right question, if they were specific, Chris could see the conversation as if he had been standing in the room when it happened. That was Phoebe's theory, anyway.

"What were _your_ orders?" Phoebe inquired.

Paige threw a new handful of arsenal against the cage, and Piper protectively pulled Chris back a few feet when sparks flew from the barrier and showered over them.

Tallis grunted in pain and then put every ounce of concentration he could muster into not thinking about Lisgav. Into hating the witches. Into hating the half-breed that was making his job so damn difficult.

"Mom." Chris said anxiously, once again tightening his grip on her hand.

Piper picked him up and settled him on her hip, turning his face into her shoulder and firmly keeping him from watching what she was about to do.

"What were your orders?"

She repeated Phoebe's question calmly, and then all the fingers on Tallis's remaining hand disintegrated. She had warned him; all things considered, she was letting him off easy.

The pain was too much; he couldn't think at all. And when he could, against everything he desired, his thoughts automatically turned to one of the many conversations that had passed between him and his leader.

_The cave was dark; so dark he could hardly see the shadow of the demon in front of him, but he could feel him. He could feel the automatic fear that struck the heart of everyone in his presence._

"_Gather the Tracers, the Kazis, the Tryvsis, and a handful of Bounty Hunters to keep them in line. I require expendable forces."_

"_Yes Lisgav."_

"_And Tallis? Work quickly. Our success is now dependent on manipulating the witches before the child learns to control his gift."_

"_But how are we going to attack the witches when the boy screams murder from the very moment he sees a threatening thought?"_

"_Exactly."_

"How're you doing, sweetheart?" Piper whispered gently into Chris's ear.

"Fine." He responded. He tried to turn his head, but she kept his face turned away from the increasingly messy scene in front of her.

"Don't look, baby."

"He's supposed to get Tracers and Kazis and… I don't remember the name of the last one. And then the other demon said to work quickly. And he talked about me a little bit. At least I think it's me."

The three women traded looks of confusion, and Phoebe frowned in concentration. What the hell were they missing? Tracers and Kazis were base level demons; they didn't even flinch when those idiots got it into their heads to attack. And attacking the manor, attacking _Piper_, it was suicide. It was as if they were deliberately trying to provoke her, only she was so unfazed by it by this point, it wasn't affecting her at all; the only reason she had exhibited even mild concern was because of the way it had been affecting… Chris.

"What if the attacks aren't for us at all?" She said slowly aloud.

Piper and Paige stared at her intently and waited for her to elaborate.

"It's about Chris. That's who it's been about from the very beginning… from that day when the second demon escaped while you and Chris were at the park. I bet Tallis here _was_ that second demon."

"Why?" Piper puzzled.

"Because the easiest way to get to you is through him." Phoebe gestured wildly, her voice becoming more animated as the gears whirled frantically inside her head. "He's playing off your maternal protectiveness. If Paige hadn't helped Chris, if every time a demon showed up here it made him react the way he used to, what would you eventually, as a mother, have been tempted to do?"

The blood ran cold in her veins and she tightened her hold on her son. "Phoebe, that's crazy."

"Think about it," Phoebe continued animatedly, "he knows how powerful we are; he knows even _he _needs a solid plan of action, or a distraction, before attacking. So why send less powerful demons to do a job he can't even do himself, without even trying to distract us, unless the demons _are_ the distraction? He knows about Chris; he knows we're more prepared now because of him than we've ever been. He needs the expendable forces because Chris is the target through us. You raised so much hell against the underworld when Wyatt was born, the demons decided _for themselves_ that it was in their best interest to grant him immunity. It's no secret the lengths you're willing to go to in order to protect your kids. And he's very, very good at thinking like a human. Human mothers can't bear to see their children suffer, human mothers would do anything within their power to keep them happy. He's trying to force your hand; to drive Chris crazy enough to make him miserable. He wants you to bind his powers."

"No." She shook her head. "No. No way."

"It gets Chris out of the way, it leaves him vulnerable. It makes you more protective, distracts all of us, and gives him the perfect in."

"And it almost worked." Piper uttered in shock, "Oh God; I almost did it."

"What?" Phoebe and Paige questioned simultaneously.

Piper shook her head and set Chris down on the ground. "Thank you, honey. You were a really big help."

Chris beamed under her praise, "Is it time to get Wyatt yet?"

Piper checked her watch, "Not quite. But I think daddy's fixing the washing machine right now; you could go help him until it's time to leave."

He nodded his head and charged out of the attic, pulling the door closed behind him. The girls waited until they heard his footsteps disappear down the stairs, and then they turned to Piper, who was very fixedly refusing to meet their gaze.

"What happened?" Phoebe ventured.

"Temporary insanity happened." Piper answered in a tone made of steel.

She turned her back abruptly and snatched the vanquishing potion off the table.

"Enjoy the wasteland. Lisgav will be joining you soon."

She watched as Tallis caught fire, crying out in pain the way she had seen so many demons before him do. Sometimes vanquishes were vindicating; other times, times like today, they left her feeling empty. It was almost too easy, too fast. Anticlimactic. She wanted him to suffer, and in an instant there was nothing left of him. Not a single trace of one of the beings in charge of torturing herself and her son. No remaining outlet for the anger still racing through her body for allowing herself to be so easily, so _blatantly_ manipulated.

"Where do we go from here?" Phoebe asked.

Piper ran a hand through her long hair and briefly closed her eyes before responding. This was ending tonight. Chris had endured more than enough of this crap.

"You and Paige are going to go back to work so that you don't lose your jobs; Paige can't miss her court session... she can worry about her innocent, and I'll worry about us. You can go do battle with Elise. We've got some time, now that we know what's going on and he doesn't necessarily know we know."

"What are you going to do?"

Piper sighed. "I need to go buy more carrot seed so that I can make freezing potions for you two, so that we're covered should I be knocked out. With our track record something will go wrong, and he is _not _shimmering away from us. As of tonight, we are done with this."

Paige frowned, "How are you out of carrot seed? That's like running out of salt."

"Listen missy, don't start with me. Chris empties things sometimes… he likes mixing the colours together. I know it's dangerous given how powerful he is but what do you want from me? I can't watch him twenty four hours a day. He doesn't really understand that he can make real potions that way."

Paige held up her hands in surrender, "It was just a question."

"Phoebe, what time are you going to be finished tonight?"

"If I don't manage to avoid Elise all day I probably won't make it back to the manor until seven."

"That's okay. We can work around it. I'll send Leo and the boys to magic school… Paige, maybe we should keep dinner on for tonight; Henry can go with them afterwards and maybe then he'll get it through his head that as unfair as it is, he's not the only one who gets banished from the manor when it comes to fighting demons."

Paige nodded her head. "Works for me."

She looked around the attic with distaste, noting the random pieces of flesh still clinging to various surfaces throughout the room from her earlier – minor – display of temper.

"You guys go. I need to clean up this mess."

* * *

Tallis had been vanquished. Or, if he hadn't been as of this moment, he would be soon. Regardless of the little information the demon had known, the witches would figure out the larger picture in a very short amount of time. Especially with the reader to help them. Even if the attack last night had served its purpose, even if the eldest witch _had_ bound the powers of her youngest child, he had to assume that she had reversed the magic as soon as she and her sisters realized he had been trying to force them into doing so the entire time. An immediate attack would be his best shot at success… if he didn't act today, there was a good chance he wouldn't get another opportunity. He needed to separate them; if he could get a hold of the children, he could kill two birds with one stone. He could keep the young ones in the underworld and prevent either of them from assisting their family, and with the right guidance, he could force the sisters into sending the grown half-breed to the underworld after the children. Not only would that serve to break up the power of three, but it would also effectively prevent any of their injuries from being instantaneously healed.

If he went to the manor now, he was willing to bet he would only find one of them… two at the most. The Charmed Ones always seemed to split up right before a planned vanquish in order to cover as many bases as possible in as small an amount of time as they could manage. The children were probably still at the manor, although he was certain it was only a matter of time until they were sent elsewhere. If they were in the care of the mortal while the witch fulfilled her share of the duties, it would be easier to take them. It would be possible to take the children before she had a chance to come to their rescue if he moved quickly enough, and move quickly he would. Then he would simply wait for her to gather her sisters.

* * *

Leo stepped cautiously into the attic, trying to gauge Piper's mood as she flew back and forth between the shelves and the table she had pulled to the centre of the room. She didn't do well sitting on her hands; after Paige and Phoebe had left, she had insisted on accompanying him to pick up Wyatt, and then confined them all to the manor where she could keep an eye on them while she worked upstairs. Her motion in the last few hours had been nonstop.

"How's it going?" He asked.

She paused and gave him a bright smile as she tossed a pinch of the white powder before her into the cauldron.

"Good. I'm almost done here. Then I'll get started on dinner."

She didn't look overly worried anymore; she had already slipped into demon hunting mode, that he could tell. She was always less prone to obsessing once there was a solid plan in place for her to adhere to. He, on the other hand, was going out of his mind.

"The boys are getting a little anxious… we've been stuck in the house for hours."

At this, she raised an eyebrow and gave him a half smile that let him know he wasn't fooling her in the least. "And by boys, you mean you."

He laughed, "Yeah. That too. Come on, Piper."

"Leo, it's safer for you with me. I don't want to be worrying about Lisgav trying to take you three in some last ditched effort to regain the upper hand. Could you please just hang on a little longer?" She pleaded. "It's one day. And then it will all be over."

"He won't try anything in public; he's too smart for that. He's not going to risk exposing magic."

She paused, "You really can't wait the two hours that are left before Paige and Henry get here."

"I'd rather not." He admitted. "Even if it's just for an hour or so… I need to get out of this house."

"I guess you could take them to the mall." She said reluctantly, "Christmas is coming up; if you're really that desperate you could let them loose in the toy stores and see what they want."

"Honey, Christmas is over a month away."

She stared at him uncomprehendingly. "That's what I just said."

He shrugged his shoulders and went along with it. It was getting him out of the house.

* * *

"Dad! Daddy come look at this! It's so cool!"

Chris tugged on his hand impatiently, and he laughed as he followed. "What is it?"

Chris stopped short next to Wyatt, and they both stared up at the sole toboggan resting against a display stand toward the back of the sporting goods aisle of the department store. Leo eyed it curiously; that was strange. There wasn't much use for toboggans in San Francisco.

"It's just like the ones on T.V." Wyatt said excitedly. "We need one!"

"Wyatt there would never be enough snow here to use it." Leo chuckled. "The store probably ordered it by mistake."

"Maybe Aunt Paige can orb us somewhere where there's snow." Chris suggested.

Leo paused; he didn't exactly want to encourage that idea, especially considering Paige would, in all likelihood, actually do it.

"Maybe." He said noncommittally. "Do you guys want to take a quick look at the fish before we go home?"

As they nodded their heads enthusiastically, Leo did his best to brush off a sudden twinge of unease that rocked him to his core. He was on edge; they all were. But there was still that feeling in the back of his mind warning him against something they weren't expecting. He glanced around the busy store, certain that whatever it was couldn't touch either of his sons while they were a part of the crowd, but that still left Piper. He hurried the boys along, suddenly anxious to return home.

* * *

They weren't here. Lisgav curled his fists against his rage at his own miscalculation. He had shimmered into the front hall, and he only needed to stand there a moment in order to sense that neither the Charmed Ones, nor the children, were currently in the house. He was about to shimmer out once again when he heard it. Humming. So there was someone in the manor afterall. He crept toward the sound and watched the eldest witch pull something from the oven. It wasn't potion related, as he had assumed it would be, and he wondered how many other things he had misconceived today. It was possible he was simply too late, possible she had already sent the children and the mortal to a location he would never be able to reach, but cooking supper didn't exactly support that train of thought. It was more likely that while they had stepped out, it was only a matter of minutes before they returned. He was tempted to try and kill her now, but it didn't seem worth the risk with her healer-witch within hearing distance; he needed to be sure any injuries remained permanent.

Unless he got close enough to knock her unconscious before she could call for her sisters; then he could kill her with minimal risk.

He had no qualms about stabbing her while she was unaware of it… there were two other sisters with whom he could receive the gratification of the kill. This one, he was just taking advantage of an opportunity that had quite fairly fallen into his lap.

* * *

Leo bit back a frustrated sigh as he pulled Chris through the rows of cars. Where the hell had he parked? Every once in awhile he was forced to reach forward and tug on Wyatt's collar when the older boy began to drift away from him, and with every wasted second the bundle of nerves in his stomach tightened.

"Daddy." Chris complained, "You're going too fast."

"Sorry buddy." He apologized absently. "How about I carry you?"

"But I wanna walk."

"Of course you do. Wyatt, don't touch that car."

Wyatt guiltily withdrew his hand.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to concentrate on anything outside of the growing panic within him. It was probably nothing. He _knew _it was probably nothing. But what he wanted was to go home and hear Piper laugh and tell him herself that he was overreacting, because he had only been gone an hour, and what could possibly go wrong in that short amount of time?

"Hey daddy guess what?"

He vaguely heard Chris calling for his attention, but at that moment Wyatt began to wander a little too far into the road, and he quickly grabbed his son's arm and guided him back to one side. Seriously, where the hell was the car?

"Dad!"

"What, Chris? Wyatt, please stop touching the cars."

"It's so shiny." Wyatt observed with wonder. He compulsively stretched out his hand to run a finger along the side of the vehicle, and Leo gently clasped his wrist and pulled him forward.

"Daddy this isn't where we parked."

Leo stopped short, "What?"

"This isn't where we parked." Chris repeated. "We passed the car already."

The sigh finally escaped his lips. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I tried." Chris answered indignantly. "You weren't listening."

Leo looked behind them and, sure enough, a few yards back and two or three rows over, there was the jeep. He lifted Chris into his arms, despite the child's minor protest, and took Wyatt's hand in his free one. He was going to feel pretty stupid in about twenty minutes when he walked through the front door and found Piper nonchalantly cooking in the kitchen. He repeated this to himself over and over again, but it didn't stop him from pushing his foot ever firmer on the gas pedal as he drove home.

* * *

Although he hated taking the form of a lesser species, he morphed into the mortal regardless. It was serving a greater cause; he could handle it this once. Confidently, he wandered into the kitchen.

* * *

Piper stood on her tip-toes to reach the bottle of wine on the top shelf of the cabinet, and her fingers had just grazed the glass when she heard unfamiliar footsteps behind her. She froze the room and snatched the boning knife from atop the counter, but her posture relaxed when she turned around and saw Leo. She rolled her eyes; really, he should know better. She unfroze him as she leaned casually against the counter, and he blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to her new position.

"You scared me." She smiled.

"Oh yeah?" He answered easily.

She turned her back and reached for the bottle once again, "Are you feeling less antsy now?"

"A little bit." Lisgav responded, resisting the temptation to stab her exposed back.

Piper placed the wine on the island and frowned curiously, "Where are the boys?"

"Upstairs."

She reached into the fridge for the lettuce, "I didn't even hear the door; weird."

"I didn't use the door."

He was on her practically before she could hear the words from his mouth, and when her head slammed against the marble counter, Piper immediately crumpled to the ceramic tiled floor.

His fingers trembled slightly with excitement as he withdrew the athame from its sheath; he hadn't anticipated to feel the same surge of adrenaline sliding the blade through her soft, human skin as he would have had she been fighting him, but there it was just the same. Killing a Charmed One was killing a Charmed One when it all came down to it.

She didn't make a sound when he stuck the blade in her side, just below her ribcage, and as the blood began to pour from the wound, dark and thick and oh so satisfying, he shuddered with the pleasure of it all.

The moment was interrupted by the car door he heard shut just outside the house, and he exhaled in annoyance. Well, at least he wasn't going to be forced to wait.

* * *

"Piper?" Leo called anxiously as soon as he opened the front door.

"Daddy." Chris said urgently the moment he crossed the threshold, "There's a demon."

Leo's stomach flipped; he should have left the mall right away. "Stay here."

He heard heels clicking on the hardwood floor, and then Piper wandered in from the dining room.

"Hi." She smiled, "Did you have a good time?"

Relief washed over him and he took a deep breath as his heart continued to thump rapidly in his chest. "Piper."

"That would be me." She laughed, "What's going on?"

It wasn't his mom. Chris was almost sure of it. But then, maybe it was the demon he was hearing, and he was just somewhere in the house he couldn't see. But, no. Suddenly it wasn't just a voice in his head anymore; he was staring at himself and his dad and Wyatt from another perspective, and then dad was down and him and Wyatt were taken… and he was certain. It wasn't Piper.

Leo took a step forward and Chris yanked his arm with surprising force, "That's not mommy." He said shakily.

"Very nice."

The voice was colder than Piper's could ever be, especially for talking to her son. And then the features grew distended and blurry until it was no longer Piper, no longer human, and the thin, pointed demon Leo recognized from the book was standing before them. Leo pushed the boys behind him.

"Wyatt." He said calmly, his eyes firmly fixed on the tall demon before him. "Where's Paige?" Between Piper's two sisters, Leo knew Paige would be easier for Wyatt to find. He needed easy. He needed fast. He needed them gone.

Wyatt tilted his head, "Home."

"I need you to orb yourself and Chris to her, okay? Hold your brother's hand."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to do that, Wyatt? Is it?" Lisgav intervened politely. "If you do, I'm going to have to kill your father. You don't want that, do you?"

"He's not going to kill me, Wyatt." Leo lied brazenly, "It's okay. Go."

"Where's my mom?" Wyatt demanded.

"Slowly exsanguinating in your kitchen." Lisgav responded offhandedly, "Now, I'm going to need you to come with me."

"Don't move." Leo ordered forcefully, "Don't let him touch you. Take your brother's hand."

Wyatt looked uncertainly between his father and the demon, "What's ex-sang-gwen-ate mean?"

"Nevermind that. Wyatt, I'm telling you to do something."

Wyatt obediently took Chris's hand, and Leo prayed that he could orb faster than Lisgav could shimmer. Instead of orbing, however, Wyatt's shield went up, encasing all three of them inside.

"No!"

Leo threw himself against the shield, but his body slammed into it as if it were a brick wall. His son was keeping them in just as efficiently as he was keeping Lisgav out. And he thought he was helping.

"Wyatt take down the forcefield!"

But it was too late, Lisgav had already shimmered the few feet between them and touched it. He felt the power flow through him and smiled, now _that_, that was a power worth borrowing. The fact that it was contained within such a young body was a shame. Now, how exactly did it work?

Leo threw himself at the demon, and once again smashed painfully into a shield exactly duplicating the one his son had just raised.

Ah. Simple then. And it stood to reason that if he could orb himself, he could orb others as well. With this in mind, he stared at the two children and willed them to his side. In the blink of an eye, they were inside the bluish bubble as well, even as their father continued to throw himself against the other side. Lovely.

"Daddy!" Chris cried.

He put a hand to the second child and felt his power flow through him the same way; he was less powerful than his older brother, but not by much. The difference was almost imperceptible. This would do nicely. Lisgav waved his hand in Leo's direction, and watched with satisfaction as he flew through the air crashing headfirst into the wall nearest the staircase. When he landed in an unconscious heap, Lisgav dropped the shield and shimmered to the underworld, taking the boys with him.

* * *

When Leo regained consciousness he leapt to his feet, ignoring the blinding pain in his head. The house was so still; it made him sick all over. His kids were gone. His kids were gone.

"Paige!" He yelled.

Then he remembered Piper. Kitchen. Exsanguination.

He ran full speed into the kitchen and slipped on the blood covering the floor at the same time his eyes registered her unconscious form. His legs went out from under him, and then he was covered in it.

_Oh fuck. Oh Piper. Oh God._

"Paige!" He called frantically.

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice, and he grabbed her hand when she slowly lifted her arm. "Don't try and move baby. Paige is coming; hang on sweetheart."

She coughed, and when he felt a new rush of blood, fluid and sickeningly warm against his thigh, he finally saw the wound. He pushed his hand against it and waited anxiously for the white and blue lights that would precede the only kind of help that could save his wife now.

* * *

Henry closed the door behind him and smiled; he could hear Paige getting ready for dinner down the hall, and it was easy for him to envision her predictable movements as she sang and floated about the apartment in time with the music pouring from their bedroom.

…_still I wish there was something you would do or say, to try and make me change my mind and stay,  
we never did too much talking anyway, so don't think twice; it's alright._

Bob Dylan; that was encouraging. Paige tended to say whatever she happened to be thinking, but there was no easier way to gauge her mood than by her music choices. Bob Dylan said soft, feminine. Calm. The frame of mind she was in when she painted. It was possible she would stand still long enough for him to apologize. He took his time shrugging off his jacket, and at the same unhurried pace, he hung it in the closet, put away his keys, and threw his wallet on the table. Paige was still singing; she obviously hadn't heard the door, and he savoured the sound of her melodic voice as he slowly approached the bedroom.

The song was drawing near its end, and he watched her slip on a pair of heels and inspect them critically in the full length mirror before taking them off and tossing them into the corner. She then pulled the black ribbed sweater over her head and opened a drawer, placing it inside and selecting a beige cashmere v-neck in its place. As the final acoustic strains drifted from the speakers, Henry spoke.

"What was wrong with the black one?"

Paige tensed and abruptly switched off the stereo. "I remembered how much you like it."

It was just past five; dinner was at six. They could stand here trading insults indefinitely, they were both that stubborn, but he _was_ the one in the wrong this time, so he would take the high road even though he didn't really want to, and hopefully they would be back on good terms within the half hour.

"I, I didn't mean what I said. Well, I did at the time, but I don't now."

He never had been good at apologizing. But then again, she wasn't very good at it either. Was anyone? Maybe that was part of the reason they worked so well; they both preferred to put some distance between them, let it go after enough time passed, and then just move on.

"I'm sorry." He finally said honestly. "It takes me awhile to put things together… you and your sisters make decisions and act on them so quickly sometimes I feel like I'm running ten steps behind, and if I had taken a couple hours to really think about it, I wouldn't have said what I did. Or at least, not in the way I did."

"It's okay." Paige shrugged offhandedly, "You're only human."

Now it was Henry's turn to bristle; while the words were innocent, the tone wasn't. It was a button she had pushed intentionally, he knew it, and yet he found himself taking the bait anyway.

"Is that going to be your superior comeback to everything for the rest of our lives?"

Instead of answering him, she smiled and went back to the full length mirror with a new pair of shoes in hand. Apparently, enough time and distance hadn't passed for that "letting go" stage yet. Although, he would be forced to admit had he not tried to force her hand yesterday morning by insisting on dinner, she might have been willing to put this behind them.

He rolled his eyes and pulled off his own shirt, resigned to the fact that they weren't going to the manor tonight on good terms. Maybe they _should_ have waited for another time.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to." Paige chirped.

Henry roughly threw open the closet door and began flipping through the clothes on the hangers. A full walk-in closet, and hardly anything in here was his. Paige's stupid crap filled up every inch of space in the entire goddamn bedroom. He tripped over one of her five million pairs of shoes lying carelessly on the floor, and he kicked it out of his way as he ripped a clean shirt off a hanger.

"We're going." He snapped, "It's important to Piper. Could you get dressed please? We're going to be late."

_Paige!_

She froze. That was Leo's voice. And there were only three people in the world capable of bringing that kind of panic into it. If something had happened to Wyatt or Chris, she would have heard Piper's voice alongside Leo's; either all three of them were in trouble, or something was very, very wrong with Piper. When she tried to sense her sister, all she could feel was cold.

_Paige!_

"I have to go." She muttered, racing for the sneakers she had abandoned by the bed.

There was fear in her voice, and their argument took a backseat as Henry quickly handed her the other shoe.

"What's wrong."

He saw tears in her eyes, and that scared him more than anything she could have possibly said. Paige wasn't a crier.

"Go." He corrected. Whatever it was, she didn't have time to explain it to him. "I'll be right over."

"No." She said despairingly, "Stay here. Promise."

"I promise." He answered immediately. He would jump off a high-rise if she ever asked him to in that tone.

She kissed him quickly; her salty tears brushed against his lips, and it was so desperate he felt his own eyes sting slightly. And then she was gone.

* * *

Piper was conscious, and as long as she kept her eyes open, he would do his best not to panic. He would do his best to keep a level head, even though everything in his world was falling apart before his eyes.

"You're crying." She observed in a soft voice.

Indeed he was; he hadn't noticed. He kissed her fingertips and increased the pressure of his other hand on her injury. What was taking so long?

Finally, he saw the dancing spheres of light signalling Paige's arrival.

"Hurry."

But he didn't have to tell her. Paige was already on the floor beside him, both hands spread wide over Piper's torso, and they both held their breath as they waited for the healing glow to emanate from her quivering fingers. It took a long time to begin, and an even longer time passed before the blood trickled ever so slowly in reverse, but begin it did, and Leo turned grateful eyes Paige's way as they both thought of how close they had just come to losing her.

The last of the blood disappeared and Piper sat up suddenly, her eyes intent and alert and free of the glassy sheen that had been haunting Leo since she first regained consciousness.

"It was him, wasn't it?" She asked angrily, taking deep breaths to speed along those few moments after being healed when her energy hadn't quite managed to catch up to her renewed body. "That bastard."

He wanted to pull her against his chest and hold her there forever, but right now, reassuring himself of her vitality didn't take precedent.

"He took Wyatt and Chris." Leo said quickly, "Paige you need to get Phoebe."

"He did what?" She jumped to her feet, and Leo and Paige quickly followed suit.

"Oh no. I'm sorry." She gripped Leo's arm as her eyes welled up with tears. "I should have known he wasn't you. I turned my back… I let this happen."

"It's not your fault." He assured, "He would have fooled me too if it hadn't been for Chris."

"I'll be right back." Paige promised.

True to her word, Paige returned less than thirty seconds later with Phoebe in tow.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked anxiously.

Paige, Piper and Leo exchanged glances, each of them having only a fragment of what had transpired. In the end, Piper spoke first.

"Leo took the boys to the mall, and I was in here making dinner when he came back, except obviously it wasn't him, and I was looking in the fridge for something when Lisgav jumped me. That's the last thing I remember until Leo actually came in here."

"Chris knew there was a demon the second he stepped inside; I let my guard down when Piper came to the front, except, again, obviously it wasn't Piper. I figured if I called for Paige, Lisgav would reach us before she did, so I told Wyatt and Chris to orb to her, only Wyatt put up his forcefield instead, and then Lisgav stole it and kicked my ass." Leo added bitterly.

"And I was getting ready for dinner when I heard Leo call." Paige finished.

"And now we're going to take back my sons and kill this son of a bitch." Piper stated, taking her sisters' hands. "Let's go Paige. Phoebe? Do you have the vanquishing spell?"

"Yeah." Phoebe pulled the slips of paper from her back pocket and handed copies to her sisters. "I brought it to work with me just in case we needed it early."

"I'm coming with you." Leo said firmly.

"Leo-

"We're wasting time Piper."

Paige grabbed his wrist, but just as she was envisioning the underworld and preparing to dissolve, Lisgav shimmered into the kitchen.

He released a dramatic sigh when he met Piper's hate filled stare. "Your sister found you in time I see. It hardly seems fair that almost anything I throw your way can be so easily reversed, but I digress."

Piper's retaliation was so fast even Lisgav didn't see it coming. The blast was carefully controlled; enough to send him flying into the basement door, but not enough to more than mildly injure him.

"Tell me where my sons are." She commanded.

"I should think that would be quite obvious." Lisgav responded unaffectedly as he stood. "They're in the underworld. I can't very well have them in the house warning you, _helping _you, while I'm trying to kill you now, can I? No no. They'll stay in the underworld until I'm finished with you, and then once the dust has settled, I'll finish them. After I harvest their powers, of course."

"Wanna bet?" Paige snapped.

If she took her sisters with her, Lisgav would follow and head straight for Wyatt and Chris. But if she went herself, he would have to choose between coming after her, and seizing a perceived opportunity to kill the Charmed Ones. He would stay, because that's what demons did, and as she was saving her nephews, her sisters would kick his ass, because that's what _they _did.

With these thoughts, she pulled her hands away from Piper and Leo and let her body melt into the air.

As soon as Paige disappeared, Lisgav grinned so smugly, the remaining three humans realized they had just played directly into his hands. Again.

Lisgav shimmered out, and then ten demons shimmered in to the place where he had so recently stood.

"Piper." Phoebe prompted urgently.

"I got it."

She focused on the group of demons… and nothing happened. She frowned and flicked both hands in front of her, but the result was the same.

"My power isn't working." She panicked.

* * *

_duh duh duh!! I'm not usually one for cliffhangers... but that was kind of fun, haha. Thanks again for all your time... I've had a blast writing this so far, and it's a good feeling to know some of you are getting a kick out of reading it in return. Next chapter will be up soon-ish; it's done, but in need of a little bit of work._

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

The (rather embarrassing) reason behind the update delay was that I sort of forgot all about Wyatt and Chris being stuck in the underworld. Oops. Obviously, a few changes had to be made, and to be honest my social calendar kept me hopping around too much last week to put serious thought into it. The chapter would have been up faster had I just taken Meluivan's Muse's suggestion that I put a general, _ps; the kids happened upon a carousel and demonic clowns in the underworld; don't be concerned about them, they're fine, _in my Author's Note, but, alas, I did not take this advice ;)

Thoughts are welcome as always, and if anyone actually wants me, I shall be cowering in an undisclosed location where the snipers cannot find me. That is all I have to say.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Piper stared at her hands in shock, unable to recall the last time they had failed her so completely, and she watched dumbly as one of the demons allowed an energy ball to settle in his palm.

Leo reacted first, and he grabbed a kitchen knife from the counter and flung it across the room with deadly accuracy before the sphere could leave the demon's hand.

"Try freezing them." Phoebe instructed.

Piper threw her hands out in front of her yet again with the same lack of result.

"The rings." Leo said gravely, and Phoebe and Piper noticed for the first time the purple and gold pieces of jewellery that glowed anew every time Piper tried desperately to make her powers work.

For the umpteenth time, all hell broke loose in the Halliwell manor.

The nine remaining demons charged them, and all the air rushed out of Piper's lungs when one tackled her to the ground with the force of a linebacker. She struggled to get free as Phoebe snatched up the knife Leo had used to vanquish the first demon, and promptly ended the life of the one nearest her. Piper's vision was beginning to spot as the demon's weight crushed her lungs at the same time as his hands around her neck cut off her air, and then she glanced up and saw the wine bottle still sitting on the edge of the island. She drew up her legs and kicked the counter as hard as she could, and when the bottle toppled to the ground and shattered, sending the faint scent of alcohol into the air and showering the kitchen floor with glass, she grasped blindly for the broken neck of the bottle, shutting her eyes gratefully when she felt her fingers close around it. Quickly, she tried very hard not to think about the mess it would create, and lodged the broken bottle deep into the demon's exposed throat. The moment he released her and brought his hands up to his neck in surprise, she swiftly removed the athame from his belt an instant before he burst into flame.

She rolled to her side and coughed as oxygen filled her deprived lungs, and when she looked up, Phoebe had managed to stab yet another demon as Leo was thrown against the far wall. She met her husband's eyes and threw the athame in his direction, and he deftly caught the tool and launched it straight into the offending demon's heart.

She grabbed two more knives from the stand and whipped them towards the demons advancing on Phoebe, and she couldn't keep from smirking in satisfaction when they too promptly burst into flame and disappeared.

"Piper!"

Leo's voice called to her and she turned her head to see two separate energy balls coming from two separate demons, in her exact direction. Before she had a chance to react, Phoebe smoothly channelled the magic and sent both weapons hurtling back in the original demons' directions.

"Thanks." She said breathlessly.

"Anytime." Phoebe responded as she ducked under the ninth demon's meaty arm and pushed the knife into his belly.

Leo used another shard of broken glass to finish off the last one, and then the three of them panted heavily as they tried to regroup before a new horde could be sent in.

"Everyone okay?" Piper inquired.

They paused a moment to take stock of any injuries, but save for the expected superficial nicks and bruises, they all appeared to be fine.

"I think this may have been planned." Phoebe breathed sarcastically.

"You think?" Piper returned. "Come on, we should head to the attic… we have real weapons up there."

"What about Wyatt and Chris?" Leo asked.

"This isn't about them." Phoebe answered, "He knew we wouldn't leave the boys in the underworld no matter what kind of problems broke out up here; Paige is the only one of us who can orb, that's certainly no secret. He wanted our healer out of the way."

"And it worked." Piper admitted as they raced up the stairs.

* * *

"Try again."

"You're not the boss of me, Wyatt."

"I'm older."

"Not even by a lot; you're five and I'm four."

"I'm almost six!"

"But you're not yet. So there."

Wyatt scowled and dropped to the dirty floor, and unable to deny his brother, Chris eventually tried – for the hundredth time – to telekinetically move the wire fencing that was enclosing them in the cave: it barely flexed under his best efforts. After the demon who had taken them vanished without another word, they had tried orbing, but it had hurt too badly to try again. The gated area looked like one of Laura's playpens, and that made Wyatt slightly upset, because he wasn't a baby and he should be able to climb out of a stupid playpen. Hesitantly, he moved his index finger ever so slowly toward the wire, and he immediately gasped and brought it back toward himself when he received a low jolt, the approximate voltage of a large static shock.

"Stop touching it." Chris glared at him.

"Chris, you said he was only putting us here so that Auntie Paige would come get us and leave mommy and Aunt Phoebe by themselves, right?"

Chris nodded his head.

"So if we get out, then we can use our powers and find Auntie Paige faster, and then go home."

"I'm tired." Chris whined, "We're too little to get out by ourselves. And you know how we get lost in the store sometimes? Mommy always says to just stay where we are, and she'll always come find us. This is kind of like being lost, right? We have to stay and wait for Auntie Paige."

He shook his head, "I don't think it's the same..."

"I want to go home." Chris said miserably, "I want to see mommy. She was lying on the floor in the kitchen and she wasn't even moving."

Wyatt paused, "What about daddy?"

A tiny frown marred Chris' features as he strained himself to remember. "I think he's fine. The demon thinks he's going to call Auntie Paige when he gets up, so he can't be hurt, right?"

"Then mom's fine too. Because daddy wouldn't let anything bad happen to mom or us ever. He said so."

"But he doesn't have magic."

"But he's daddy." Wyatt responded simply.

After a moment of reflection, this was enough to pacify Chris. Now that he had more or less learned to control his new power, he was slowly finding his way back to his belief that his parents were capable of anything. Out of all the frightening images and thoughts he had been subjected to in the last few weeks, not one of the demons responsible had managed to best anyone in his family. Except the one that had just taken them; and he had only taken them because he knew he couldn't win against his mom and his aunts at the same time. His mom and dad protected each other almost as well as they protected him and Wyatt… his brother was right; if dad was okay, then mom had to be okay too.

"What do we do?" He asked finally, coming to sit beside Wyatt.

Wyatt frowned, "I don't know. Try the gate again."

"I'm not big enough." Chris complained, "It's barely even moving. Why aren't you trying anymore?"

He hesitated for the second time, not entirely certain it was even worth mentioning. "Well, you know how Aunt Paige says she can tell when her charges are in trouble?"

"Yeah."

"I'm thinking about her really hard… maybe then she'll know where we are. Like that time at the mall when she made us promise not to tell mom she lost you."

"Can I help?"

"I guess so. Close your eyes."

Chris dutifully shut his eyelids firmly together, and he tried to think about Paige the same way he thought about Wyatt sometimes. It wasn't long before both boys felt her presence, although it was too subtle to be consciously acknowledged by either of them. They had a notion her arrival was impending before they heard or saw the orbs, and it wasn't a feeling that could be placed, other than it was rather like when they thought of a song in the car, and then mom or dad turned on the radio and the same song began to play. Somehow, they simply knew she was coming.

"Alright already; knock it off you two, I hear you." Paige commented lightly as she appeared before them. When she had entered the underworld her nephews' signals had been muted, but the connection between them was strong enough that she had still been able to track their whereabouts. Given the concentration she had been putting in to that task, their sudden mental invasion had been overkill. Nevertheless, she was proud.

"Auntie Paige!" They chorused, scrambling to their feet.

"You did it, Wy!" Chris exclaimed excitedly.

"Don't touch the fence." Wyatt warned as Paige approached. "It stings."

"Yeah; the first time Wyatt touched it he cried a little bit."

"I did not!"

"Yes you did. I saw."

"Hey." Paige interrupted with a smile, overwhelmed with relief at finding them entirely unharmed, "If you keep fighting, I might just leave you down here and tell your parents I couldn't find you."

"Let us out." Wyatt demanded indignantly.

Paige smirked and waved a hand at the gate, but while it sparked and bent slightly, it remained intact. Frowning, she repeated the motion, putting a more conscious effort into her actions. This time the gate obligingly vanished in the expected cocoon of light, and clattered harmlessly against the wall a few feet away.

Her nephews ran full tilt out of the pen and embraced her.

"Is daddy okay?"

"What about mom?"

"Did you kill the demon?"

"Can we go home and eat?"

Paige paused, "Yes, yes, not yet, and no. We're going to go to the manor and pick up your dad, assuming it's safe, and then you guys are going to magic school. Dinner's going to have to wait dudes. Each of you take a hand; we have to hurry."

"Auntie Paige-

Paige didn't get time to hear the rest of what she assumed would have been Chris' warning before the fireball whizzed past her and narrowly missed her head. Fantastic. Two additional demons shimmered in to flank the first one, and she sighed. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have orbed straight to the manor with Wyatt and Chris and simply warned Piper of the incoming danger; but the problem with the stupid underworld was that she couldn't tell what was going on topside. She had no clue what Piper and Phoebe might already be dealing with, and therefore no way of knowing if the distraction of her orbing in - with three demons in tow - at that exact moment would prove harmful. She pushed Wyatt and Chris behind her and orbed the next fireball back in the direction it had come from, obliterating the demon that had thrown it. Apparently, getting out of here was going to take a few minutes longer than she had expected.

* * *

When they reached the attic, Piper, Phoebe and Leo all began pulling various potion vials and weapons from the shelves, and Piper absently tossed her husband an extra athame. By this point she was far too concentrated on the task at hand for worrying about him to even cross her mind; if he was stuck with them, she was sure as hell going to make sure he was armed.

They barely had time to think before a new host was upon them, doubling the numbers of the group they had faced in the kitchen. Without giving them a chance to use their powers Piper immediately threw herself at the demon closest to her, and Phoebe and Leo followed suit.

She heard a cry of pain from Leo's direction, and when she automatically turned to look at him, her own demon caught her with the tip of his blade. She grunted and immediately held a hand to her side; it wasn't that deep, and it served her right for being distracted. But it would really, _really _be helpful if she could use her powers and speed up this process.

In time with this thought, the demon exploded before her, and she shielded her face from the blast in shock; that had _most definitely_ been her doing.

She glanced around the room, studying the hands of the remaining demons, and it was then that she realized these demons weren't protected the same way the ones in the kitchen had been.

"It's about friggen time." She muttered under her breath.

Standing tall, she focused first on the demons surrounding Leo, knocking them all off in quick succession. He turned her way in surprise, and she called to him in a voice loud enough for Phoebe to hear as well, as new demons shimmered in to the room.

"They don't have anything protecting them."

Phoebe grinned in spite of herself as she plunged yet another athame through the heart of yet another demon; _Now_ things would start happening.

Piper instinctively threw her body to one side as an energy ball was thrown her way, and she hissed in pain when it grazed her thigh. Apparently, she was making all the wrong moves tonight.

"Are you okay?" She heard Leo's voice beside her.

"Yeah." She answered, "Don't worry about me."

He caught her eye and they both smiled at the utter ridiculousness of that statement. She counted the demons in the room and she disposed of as many of them as she could, save for the ones that were too close to Phoebe and Leo to risk hurting them.

When the demon closest to Phoebe lifted her clear off her feet by the throat and slammed her against the wall, Piper reflexively raced across the room and jumped on top of him, clawing desperately at his arm as her sister's feet kicked uselessly at the air.

On the opposite end of the room another demon shimmered in and seized a golden opportunity, hurling a high voltage energy ball Piper's way in the split moment her back was turned. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo had barely a second to foresee what was about to happen before the energy ball was already in the demon's hand, growing larger by the second. Instantly panicked, he quickly killed his own demon and raced toward his wife with close to super human speed.

Slow motion. That was the way bad things were supposed to happen. That was the way she had been conditioned to believe things happened. But Piper was experienced with bad things. Piper knew better. When bad things happened they weren't in slow motion at all, not until much, much later when the distorted details replayed themselves over and over within her mind and she was tormented by all the little things she could have done, _should _have done in order to make events play out differently. No, bad things didn't happen in slow motion; they happened at sonic speed. They happened so quickly, they were over before anyone could even begin to process the terrible thing that had occurred.

She was helping Phoebe, growing more frantic as her sister's face began to change colour and her wide eyes began to cloud. She never heard him call her name. In all likelihood, he never tried. Somehow when a moment was that pivotal, actions tended to work faster than words. Instinct took over and your body heeded the desperate call of your brain before your mouth could even begin to find the exclamation of warning it needed. She was helping Phoebe, and then she was pulling a rusted nail out of the wall and jamming it into the demon's hand. When he cried out he released his hold on her sister, and Piper dropped to the ground and turned and then Leo was there, hurling his weapon forward and catching a demon she hadn't even seen dead in the throat at the same instant blue light flashed in front of her and her husband's body recoiled in her direction.

And then the fast forward slowed and she could move and react and think and process again. She caught him as he fell, murmuring reassuring nonsense into his ear as she struggled to hold his dead weight.

"You're okay. You're okay."

Her voice was too high; because of this, Leo knew that he wasn't okay. That he was very far from okay. In the end he was too heavy, but she managed to awkwardly –although somehow, gently – lower them to the dusty ground.

His eyelids began to close, and Piper's fingers dug sharply into his arm, "No." She demanded, her own irises almost black with determination, "You open your eyes. You will not close them, do you hear me? Don't you dare."

"Sorry." He murmured.

His voice was soft, and she wanted to believe that it could almost be constituted as normal, but it was wrong. His voice was usually soft when he spoke to her, when he comforted her, but there was an ever present quiet strength about her husband that flowed right through him and straight into her every time he uttered a word; and it was gone. His tone was distracted, almost absent, as if he were already not quite with her, and then she couldn't keep herself from crying.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry; I didn't mean it." Even now, the vortex of emotion she could never handle with anything besides anger, besides superficial aggression, had targeted Leo. And for that, she would never forgive herself. "Oh sweetie. Oh baby. Don't go; please. Please just, just stay. You can do it, I know you can, stay. Stay."

He tried to take a breath, and the ragged, wet sound it made caused another sob to spill out of her mouth. There was blood pooling in his lungs; she couldn't think of another explanation for why he sounded like he was trying to breathe underwater.

"Please." She repeated frantically, spreading herself out on the floor beside him and carefully cradling his body against hers. "Just hold on, Paige will be back any second now. Don't die. Don't die."

He could see her aura. The most beautiful, pure shade of blue he had ever witnessed. Anything less would have surprised him; nothing short of resplendent could ever be associated with Piper Halliwell. Her face was inches above his own, almost a tease; he could see her perfect lips moving in slow motion, but he couldn't quite reach them. Couldn't quite hold on to their form. She was slipping in and out, leaving him alone with the marvellous blue and the warm touch of her body for comfort. Her body; he couldn't see it, but he knew the way it felt. He knew the way _he_ felt every time her skin came close to his. He was suddenly compelled to tell her this, to be certain she knew that he had never been happier than he was when with her… not in any of his lifetimes. He opened his mouth and was surprised when the thoughts in his head didn't translate to words on his tongue.

"Piper."

"Shh." She whispered gently, hiccupping in her attempts to control her panicked breathing, "I know, Leo. I know. Don't try and talk, okay? You're going to be fine, you just need to wait…"

She lifted a hand to his face, and her fingers trembled violently as she stared at the blood drenching her palm. This couldn't happen. This couldn't happen. She wouldn't let it.

"Paige!" She hollered.

"Piper, look out!"

She automatically heeded Phoebe's warning, although she would have no memory of doing so later. No memory of anything outside of Leo, and his broken body, and the cold floor, and her blood soaked hands.

Four new demons had shimmered in near the door, and a quick glance at her sister revealed Phoebe holding her own against three demons that hadn't been there when Leo had first fallen. Within, literally, the time it took Piper to think about it, all seven demons combusted simultaneously.

Phoebe deftly whipped off her sweater and knelt beside Leo, then she quickly pushed the sweater against the deepest of his visible wounds in place of Piper's hands. He grunted in pain and weakly tried to push away her forceful touch.

"I'm sorry." Phoebe said compassionately.

"Why can't she hear us?" Piper cried, "We're sisters. We're the Power of Three. We should be strong enough… why aren't we strong enough?"

"Love." Leo murmured, "Love you."

"Don't talk." She whimpered, "Don't talk. Just stay with me. Stay with me, please. I need you."

But it was too late; she could feel it. She could feel the exact moment he left her, because suddenly there was a fire inside her unlike any she had felt before. Except that wasn't exactly true; because she had felt it, once. Once, when Prue died. And she couldn't survive feeling it again. It was different from any other time Leo had been pulled from her; every other time, she had known on some level that it couldn't be permanent. That no force in the universe could be so cruel as to keep them apart eternally. She had felt him, always, even when he was an Elder. Even when he was an Avatar. Even when he was stolen by the Angel of Destiny. This… this was final in a way almost beyond her comprehension.

She gasped and brought a hand to her heart, then she looked to Phoebe, praying she was wrong. Praying she would see something in her sister's expression that would tell her she was overreacting, as always. That they had all the time in the world to wait for Paige to come back, because Leo's injuries were minor; barely worth healing.

"Phoebe?"

Phoebe shook her head as tears began to slip down her cheeks, and her shoulders slumped in defeat as she removed the blood stained sweater from Leo's body and tossed it across the room.

Piper struggled to breathe past the new sob rising in her throat. She didn't want to touch him any longer; she needed to let go before the warmth left his body; before she forgot what it was like to feel the heat from his skin, and she was left with a memory of cold, waxy dead flesh. She needed to let go. She needed to let go. She needed to let go.

Her grey t-shirt was smeared with blood; her blood, Phoebe's blood… his blood. It was soaking through the fabric and rubbing against her skin, and finally, there she found her incentive. She released her hold on Leo's body and savagely ripped the shirt over her head, throwing it across the room to join Phoebe's sweater.

Then there was another presence in the attic. They both felt it before he actually shimmered to full form. Lisgav smirked at their snivelling, beaten human bodies; this had worked out better than even he had envisioned.

"We meet again." He gave them a mocking bow.

Piper could have screamed; enough was enough. Rage, she had discovered long ago, was the only thing capable of overpowering grief. Rage, and hate. And so she hated him. She hated the demon with everything she had left within her, and she waited for the slight, barely perceptible twinge of relief that would, for a nanosecond, soothe her upon his demise.

An amulet glowed purple around his neck, and nothing happened.

"You didn't honestly think I would show my face here without protection?" Lisgav laughed, "Oh no. I gave a select few demons a little boost to add a bit of challenge for you, but I saved the best for myself. You'll find that your powers won't have any effect on me. And with your sister chasing the little ones throughout the underworld…" he clucked his tongue, "I'm afraid you don't have any means of removing it from around my neck. Funny, the way that worked out."

"She's already on her way back." Phoebe smirked, "She'll be here before you have a chance."

Lisgav studied her expression intently, and uncertainty briefly flashed across his face before his relaxed smile once again took over. His gaze traveled to Leo's lifeless form, and Piper protectively shifted her body to obstruct his view.

"To heal your mortal, no doubt?"

"Shut up." Piper spat.

"Well," he said offhandedly, "I refuse to leave here empty handed. I've been waiting a long time to visit this house. If I can't kill one of you witches today, I can settle."

Piper snatched up an athame from the floor and was on her feet in an instant, her eyes ablaze. "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your distance."

Phoebe stepped forward and firmly grabbed her wrist; she had lost one family member already today… she wasn't willing to let Piper's blind rage cause her to lose another. Wyatt and Chris needed her sister. _She _needed her sister.

His perpetual smirk deepened, "You can't harm me witch."

It was basic demonic instinct to read the action that would evoke the greatest amount of suffering from a potential victim, and Upper Level or not, Lisgav was no different. The younger witch's gaze darted anxiously between himself and her sister, but the older witch, the older witch was already consumed by grief and anger. He could destroy her. He could bring about complete and total destitution.

Quick decision making followed by instantaneous action was the key to dealing with the Charmed Ones. He didn't give them time to think, he didn't give them time to react, he simply pitched the fireball forward and waited for it to devour the body on the floor.

"No!" Piper yelled furiously, stepping directly in its path.

"Piper!" Phoebe shouted. But her sister wasn't even aware of her voice. She wasn't thinking. With milliseconds to spare Phoebe roughly shoved Piper out of the way, and the hit glanced off her exposed arm, then changed direction and smashed into the shelves against the wall.

"Damn it." Phoebe muttered as she clutched her damaged tricep with the opposite hand.

Piper was up again before she could stop her, and she threw herself at Lisgav's body. He buckled under her weight in surprise, and before he could react she had delivered multiple blind stabs to his torso with the athame she clenched firmly in her fist.

"You can't have him!"

He caught her in the jaw, and her whole head snapped back from the impact. She tried to shake off the blow, but her face wouldn't move. There was an incessant whine echoing in her ears from the force of the hit, and while she stood, temporarily stunned and paralyzed, Lisgav smiled anew.

"Thank you." He murmured.

That was the last thing she remembered. The rest, she learned from Phoebe, months later.

Phoebe watched helplessly as Piper's body sailed through the air before her head cracked against a ceiling beam and she dropped to the hard floorboards. Lisgav, in spite of his wounds, casually picked himself up off the ground, dusted off his clothes, and flicked his wrist, in a way she had watched Piper do a thousand times. She flinched in anticipation of the brutal end to come, and then realized that the explosion had not sounded off anywhere near where she was standing. She was about to taunt the demon for his poor aim, and then, to her absolute horror, she realized what he had done. Leo. She hadn't been the target; Leo had. And now there was nothing left of him.

Lisgav laughed at the utter shock on her face. "Are you going to cry, witch? Come on. Cry for me."

"Screw you." Phoebe whispered as she ran a hand roughly across her face. "I'll kill you."

He took a threatening step forward, "It should be interesting, seeing how you attempt that."

Phoebe closed the distance between them and delivered a quick roundhouse kick to his jaw, careful to keep his hands from coming in contact with body. When he fell to the ground she reared her foot and kicked him as hard as she could in the ribs.

"I don't need magic, you bastard."

She tore the amulet away from his neck and hurled it through the attic window, then kicked him in the face, savouring a pang of cold satisfaction when she heard a bone crunch beneath her steel toed boot.

She ran over to Piper's unconscious body and placed a hand on her sister, feeling their magic melding together as one through her touch.

"In this circle that is home…" Phoebe began forcefully.

"No!"

For the first time, genuine fear crossed the demon's face.

"Safety's gone, and evils roam…"

The familiar winds whirled around her, and she shouted to be heard above the noise.

"Rid all beings from these walls…"

Lisgav gasped in pain, and his hateful eyes burned into hers. She wasn't inexperienced; she knew the spell wouldn't vanquish him, and her own spell was useless without both her sisters, but goddamn it she would wound him. She would make him feel a fraction of the pain he had inflicted on her family, and she would make him turn tail and run from this house like the coward that he was.

"Save sisters three, now heed our call!"

He roared in fury, but the temporary agony of the not-quite-vanquish proved too much, and he shimmered out of the attic to lick his wounds as the winds died down and left the room painfully still.

When she was sure he wouldn't come back, not until he had time to regroup, Phoebe looked to the spot her brother-in-law's body had occupied not a minute before. The wind and magic that had been coursing through the air had taken care of whatever ash had been left after the explosion; Phoebe couldn't decide whether that was a blessing or a curse. She felt sick as she looked around the attic; she couldn't remember ever seeing so much blood in any one room. She found some bandages amidst the rubble, and tightly bound her arm before attempting to throw a blanket across the worst of the mess. Across the place where Leo…

When she was finished, she sat on the floor beside Piper and gently ran her fingers across her sister's face.

"Wake up, sweetie."

Piper's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she gazed at Phoebe with confusion as she tried to put together her scattered pieces of memory. Suddenly her eyes widened and she abruptly sat forward, "Leo. We need to find Paige."

"Piper –

But Phoebe didn't need to say anything. Piper's eyes had already found the blanket on the floor. The blanket that had managed to hide some of the blood, but had also made the lack of a body beneath it painfully obvious.

"No." She shook her head, and her voice began to shake with panic, "No. Paige!" She shouted loudly.

"It's too late, Piper."

"Paige!" Piper screamed hoarsely, "Paige, please!"

"Piper, you know she can't hear you." Phoebe said, "She's still down there with the boys."

"Where is he?"

Phoebe swallowed past the lump in her throat. "He's gone, honey. There was nothing we could have done."

"I _know_ that he's gone, Phoebe! Do you think I'm an idiot? I can _feel _that he's gone. I asked you where he is. Where is he?"

Her voice was raw; every word cut into her dry throat. But she welcomed the pain. She welcomed the pain and she held on to the anger with everything she had, because if she couldn't stay angry, if she couldn't be furious, then there was nothing else for her to feel but the horrible, empty place where he has been for over a decade. There was nothing else for her to think about other than the fact that he was… she wouldn't let herself think it. She was angry. She was angry with Phoebe, because Phoebe wasn't answering her question.

"Where is he?!"

"You saw… you heard what he said…"

"No." Piper said firmly, "No, no, no."

Her voice cracked, and it was like someone had reached into her chest and started squeezing her heart. And then Phoebe's arms were around her, enveloping her, and not for the first time, she wondered how someone as tiny as Phoebe was capable of giving such encompassing hugs. She waited for the relief; for the warm, calming air that surrounded her when her sister offered herself so completely, but it didn't come. It didn't come, and Piper cried harder because there was no doubt that her insides were truly broken. She couldn't feel anything outside of this _burn_, and every second it continued was excruciating. She wouldn't have survived losing Prue without Leo… how could she be expected to survive losing Leo himself? She couldn't handle it. She could not, could not, could not, could not-

There was a smell in the room. There was a smell, and it was overpowering. Metallic. She looked around the attic and gasped again and again, but she couldn't catch her breath; blood. There was blood everywhere. Her blood, Leo's blood, Phoebe's blood… they had all been hit and she couldn't tell. But there was a pool of it in the centre of the room, and she didn't even know the human body had that much blood. She couldn't see how one would survive without it. And she was conscious, and Phoebe was conscious, which meant that it must be…

"Oh God." She coughed, "Oh God. Oh God."

Phoebe held her tighter, "Don't look at it."

Piper pulled away and turned her soulful eyes into her sister's, "We can fix this, right? Phoebe, tell me you have a way to fix this."

And Phoebe wished she did. She wished she could turn back the clock to a time when she was young and Piper was young, and she _had_ been able to fix things. The time she had fixed Piper's grade nine science project; granted, she had been the one to break it in the first place, but fix it she had. The time she had flirted Piper out of being detained, when they had been pulled over just five minutes after she had successfully begged Piper to let her drive the rest of the way home, even though she was two years away from being old enough to get a licence.

At this moment, to lessen the pain of her sister, Phoebe would have done anything to go back to that time. To that Phoebe and Piper. Instead, she was here, sitting on a blood soaked floor, holding her sister and not quite able to believe her brother-in-law, her Leo, was… gone.

The last time she had been trusted to "fix" a situation like this, she had lost a sister. She had saved one, and lost the other. And she was surprised that Piper could still, even considering her current state, ask her, trust her, to do it again.

"I can't." She whispered, "It's just like the last time. I can't…"

And then they were both crying, despite Phoebe's intent to keep herself together. Piper's heartache was so deep she couldn't help but feel it, and that combined with her own sadness over Leo pushed her well over the edge.

Phoebe took her sister's hands in hers and squeezed, silently commanding Piper to look at her.

"Paige is going to be back soon."

She was surprised by how strong her voice sounded, even as the tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

"Phoebe." Piper sobbed. Despite the pressure of Phoebe's hands on hers, she hadn't heard a word. "What am I going to do?"

Phoebe squeezed again, and this time, Piper obediently raised her head. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide and glassy; desperate. She desperately needed Phoebe to have an answer. To give her a place to start.

"You're going to let yourself grieve." Phoebe began, "But you're also going to calm down. I know this is a shock, and I know it's not fair, but Paige is going to be back soon, and she's going to have Chris and Wyatt with her. Your sons are going to need you."

"How?" She choked. She couldn't think; the fire consuming her was too intense to allow it. She just hoped it was enough for Phoebe to understand; _How was she going to take care of them by herself? How could she be expected to explain this to them? How was she supposed to be strong for them when all she wanted was to be swallowed whole by the floor she was sitting on? How was she going to even stand? How could she go on living in this house?_

Phoebe used her long sleeve to dry Piper's face, and then she gently cupped her cheek. Warm hands. Unlike Prue, unlike Paige, unlike herself, Phoebe's hands and feet were always warm; regardless of the time of year or the temperature. It was one of the things she loved best about her sister. And it was at that second, Piper realized that Phoebe was the only one left who knew all of her. Who knew who she had been before Prue died. Who had watched her move from child, to teen, to adult… who had witnessed the personal growth she had done along the way. Phoebe was the only one left who understood the way she ticked without even having to try.

"Don't leave me." Piper whispered, "Don't ever. I couldn't bear it."

"Piper stop. Look at me."

In direct contrast to Phoebe's command, Piper cast her gaze downward.

"Look at me."

When Piper lifted her head, Phoebe looked her in the eye and spoke slowly.

"You're stronger than you realize. You always have been." She said firmly.

"I can't."

"Yes you can."

Phoebe glanced around them and swallowed the bile she felt rising in her throat. They couldn't stay here. Paige would sense their presence and then orb accordingly; she would have no idea of the state the attic was in. Wyatt and Chris couldn't see this.

"Come on." She breathed gently.

She stood, pulling Piper's compliant body with her, and guided her down the stairs to the bathroom.

* * *

_He recognizes the bright light… recognizes the absence of colour; the odd, dismal shade of blue that marks the in-between plane. The attic is empty, cold; devoid of the presences that have made this place his home. Had. __**Had **__made this place his home. He is no longer a part of this. He has lived the last ten years for Piper, and now he has died for her; a poetic, honourable way to end. She is alive, even if he is not, and he cannot want for more than that. She is strong; she endures. Even when she doesn't believe she can. Even when she doesn't want to._

_His calm demeanour eclipses the archetypal, expected feelings of confusion, agitation and panic that accompany this transition, because this is not foreign. No, he has done this before. He stands tall and ready, waiting for the being who will be his sole companion during this next, integral phase in his journey._

_The air whooshes in his ears suddenly, indicating a new arrival. He swallows, but he isn't afraid. No, he is not afraid, but a part of him is reluctant to leave this plane. This place in which he is surrounded by faux familiarity, and can retain hope for the occasional whisper, the occasional pull felt deep within his soul, from the other half of himself. From the beautiful, extraordinary boys she has given him, and the unconditional love they shower. However, he will not mention any of this to his guide, because he knows from experience that the man has a job to do. A job he will follow through regardless of pleas, laments or reflections; the die has already been cast, and all he can do is quietly obey, and save his thoughts, his memories, as his own. They are now all he has._

"_You're late." Leo observes. "I've been waiting."_

_The Angel of Death bristles slightly, in the way he cannot help but doing when lesser beings question his execution of his duties._

"_I have other responsibilities. There is no denying; collecting the soul of a being close to the Charmed Ones is a fickle process at best. It is a rarity, despite the multitude of occasions one or more of you have found yourselves on my list, for my appearance to serve as anything more than a fruitless delay in my day's schedule. You're lucky I showed up at all."_

_Leo mutters an apology into the ground, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the hardwood floor with the expression of a child who has just been chastised by a parent. The Angel drops his impassive, transcendent expression and graces Leo with a flash of pained, genuine emotion._

_Even with his best efforts, the face he manages to put forward is not quite human. It is not quite sympathy, certainly not empathy, but a sort of allowance. A tired, tentative remittance for the childish behaviour mortals are too young, too emotional and impulsive, to suppress. He cannot always expect them to display reasonable amounts of self restraint._

"_It's your time. Come with me."_

_Leo complies, and Death sets their slow, unhurried pace down the ghostly version of Prescott street._

"_I'm going to miss so much."_

_It is only when Death turns judging eyes his way, warning against an emotional appeal, that Leo realizes he has spoken aloud._

"_Sorry." He apologizes quickly._

_Satisfied, Death returns his gaze to the horizon, where the light that marks the end of the pilgrimage burns ever brightly._

"_To be honest, with every step we take, I am expecting you to be pulled away from me, back to the land of the living through some bizarre, coincidental loophole discovered by your family." He says, unperturbed._

_Leo wonders if there is anything in this world, or any other, that can elicit an extreme reaction from the immortal. Somehow, he doubts it._

"_I find myself oddly fascinated by your witches; death is logical. It is inevitable. And yet, they fight it so fiercely, time and time again. In the end, it only hurts them. Every minor success, every moment they interpret as a victory in a battle they absolutely cannot win, encourages their belief that they are entitled to a long life. That everyone they love, is so entitled. It's naïve, really. And it only makes letting go that much more difficult." _

"_They have the purest hearts out of anyone I have ever known." Leo defends softly, "It's not naïveté; it's human instinct. It's human desire to live a life that isn't comprised of solitude; to complete the journey with the ones that are loved. And they could never live with themselves if they did anything less than everything within their power to save lives. Regardless of how it hinders their grieving process. It's part of what makes them so remarkable. It's a part of the sacrifice they make as protectors of the innocent."_

"_It was not my intention to offend." Death assures serenely, "I merely find it curious. Baffling, even. There are few things in this world that I do not understand… the unconditional devotion which ties select humans together is one such thing."_

_They continue their walk in silence. Leo does his best to keep all thoughts concerning the sisters, all thoughts concerning his wife and sons, contained safely inside himself. He tries not to think of Sunday dinners; of the dining room filled with the overbearing, booming voices of their ever-expanding family. He tries not to think of Saturday mornings, of the grins on Wyatt and Chris' faces as they jump on the bed, delivering an underappreciated wakeup call. Most of all, he tries not to think of Piper. Of hurried, passionate showers stolen while "The Incredibles" or "The Emperor's New Groove" entertains their boys downstairs. Of the way she steals the blankets in her sleep, but often wakes up in the middle of the night and makes sure he is fully, lovingly, re-covered before returning to slumber._

_They walk through a time portal; Leo is sure of it. That is the only way to explain the way the walk, that up until this point, has seemed agonizingly slow, is suddenly, abruptly, at an end. And for the first time, he has to struggle to keep the instinctive panic at bay. Because he has tried so hard not to admit, even to himself, how much he is going to miss his family; and now there is no more time for denial._

"_So this is it, then?"_

_Death offers a hint of a smile, but does not otherwise engage. Leo is stalling. He has been an Angel of Death for too long to allow this to last a moment longer than is necessary._

"_Go." He prods gently. "Be at peace."_

_Leo's physical hesitation is brief; a direct contrast to the unmistakeable reluctance written across his face, and he turns one last time to the empty street; to the sidewalk he never had the chance to teach Chris to ride a two-wheeler on, to the high curb Wyatt hit with his scooter before face-planting on the cement. To the rooftop of the manor, where he has made love to his wife in every room. Except the conservatory._

_Then he gathers his resolve, and fades away into the blinding whiteness._

* * *

"We're doing the right thing, aren't we?"

"What consequence could possibly be worse than this?" Paige answered bitterly.

Phoebe took her sister's hand. Not because she needed to, but because she didn't think she could continue standing in this spot, let alone say a spell, without feeling a connection to someone else. Without touching her sister, and being forced to admit that none of this was a dream. That a very cold reality had taken its vengeance upon them all for the many times they had attempted to assure their own futures.

"Let's do it then."

Neither witch could bear to look at the other, and being similarly unable to rest their gaze upon anything else in the gore filled room, they stared at their shoes and pretended that there was nothing unusual about their actions.

"Let the object of objection become but a dream, as I cause the seen to be unseen."

There was a small amount of comfort to be found in the way they recited the words together. It reminded them that they were not alone, and they only wished there was a way to pass the same feelings on to Piper. The room shimmered in lights that were far too bright to match the ambience; then everything was restored back to normal so quickly that it hurt, because it was as if all of magic was making a mockery of the fact that nothing would ever be normal again. They had all changed irrevocably after Prue died, and now, all would change once more.

"Henry and Coop will be here soon…" Paige's voice was low and husky, and she cleared her throat; it didn't make a difference. "…I don't want them knocking or ringing the bell. We should go."

Phoebe hesitated, and new tears formed in her eyes as she stared at the neat, untarnished room with something akin to disbelief.

"Phoebe."

When Phoebe turned her attention to her sister, she saw Paige's doe eyes glistening with unshed tears of her own, but, as always, Paige was strong.

"We need to go." She repeated firmly.

So they shut the door behind them and didn't look back, and Paige finally understood why years ago, Piper and Phoebe had been so willing, so eager, to free themselves from the burden of magic. For the very first time, she was overwhelmed with regret for changing their minds.

* * *

In the underworld, Lisgav bottled up his rage and quickly began the workings of a new plan. He would have to retreat for now… it wasn't in his nature to run, but his desire to survive surpassed his pride. With a wave of his hand, a new demon was called to his presence, and the creature looked around, stunned at the sudden change in his surroundings.

"Congratulations." Lisgav smiled thinly, "You've just been promoted."

* * *

On the first day, Piper didn't leave the bedroom. Neither did the boys.

On the second day, Piper stayed in her room alone, while Paige, Henry, Phoebe and Coop made a team effort of watching Wyatt and Chris; she told them she needed the time to box Leo's things without upsetting her sons. That night, Phoebe woke up to a pain so sharp in her chest, she sat up gasping, almost moved to tears. She found Piper in the kitchen crying into a cold mug of tea, and the grief was so overwhelming and intimate Phoebe felt ashamed for intruding. Her sister swiftly retreated to her bedroom without a word the moment she saw her, and she sat vigilantly outside Piper's door for the next three hours, just in case. For once, Phoebe managed to keep a secret.

Day three, Piper emerged; showered, smartly dressed, and wearing makeup. She cooked breakfast, and everyone ate in complete silence.

Day four, Chris began asking when daddy was coming back; by day five, everyone had run out of original, comforting ways to tell the four year old boy he wasn't.

Day six marked Wyatt and Chris' first day back at school, and Piper's return to work.

With the arrival of day seven, Piper swore she would be fine on her own, and Phoebe, Paige, Henry and Coop all left the manor, ashamedly ignoring the twinge or relief they could not help feeling as they held hands with their very-much-alive respective partners.


	13. Chapter 13

There's a little flashback at the end that kind of refers to See me Slip Again. You don't need to have read the story to get the picture, but I just thought I'd let you know. That oneshot was originally supposed to be a flashback in chapter 3 (when Piper was reflecting while she watched Chris and Leo sleep), but it got a little out of control (surprising? Of course not, this is me we're talking about) so I scrapped it and turned it into its own little story instead. Piper's memory at the end of this chapter would have been what followed :) . Also, a proposal; I have up to chapter 16 written completely (minus the copious editing they probably need), and after that, I've got almost nothing finished for the two, MAXIMUM three chapters there will be following those before the epilogue. It usually takes me awhile to get myself together chapter-wise, so I'm thinking of spacing out the posting of the next three chapters to give me time to get my act together and polish it all off, and avoid an awkward wait between 16 and 17. I leave it entirely up to you though… if the general consensus would prefer I just post what I have every three or four days, and deal with the wait when it comes, I'd be willing. Thus concludes my epic note.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**December**

**Let's Play Pretend**

"Wyatt Mathew Halliwell, I'm not playing around; get in the car."

"No." He replied defiantly.

Piper ran her hand angrily through her hair and took a deep breath, fighting the desire to just give up, pronounce him the winner and go back inside the house. She was slipping left right and centre, and to add to her growing list of things she had screwed up entirely, she had missed payroll. Completely. Now, she had no choice but to run to the club and retrieve her binder – also forgotten – in order to keep "losing all employees" from being tacked on to said list as well. Unfortunately, now that she was alone with the boys, there would be no more quick runs to the club and back; she had no choice but to drag them with her. On Christmas Day. And as she watched Wyatt throw his tantrum she couldn't help but be angry. It sucked that they were being dragged to work with her on Christmas. It sucked that Leo was gone. It sucked that nothing was ever going to be normal again. They both had every right to be upset, she understood that. And she knew she shouldn't be holding it against her five year old child, but the fact that he seemed hell-bent on being angry with her _all the time_, sucked just as much as the other things. This wasn't exactly a picnic for her either.

Chris' gaze traveled uncertainly between his mother and his brother, as if he couldn't quite decide whether he should be joining Wyatt and throwing a fit as well, or if he could simply obey her without being disloyal to the sibling he loved so much. She recognized that look.

"Do not start with me, Christopher." She shook her head, "Not today."

He sighed, which Piper took as an indication of compliance, and she lifted him into the vehicle and left him to strap himself into his booster seat. That was one down.

When she turned back towards Wyatt, he still had his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "I don't want to."

Piper rolled her eyes, "We've established that."

Wyatt's mouth was set exactly the way Leo's always… _had _always settled when he was angry. Specifically, when he was angry with her. But the way her older son's eyes flashed suddenly, that was a temper he had inherited from his mother, and she recognized _that_ look too. She froze the quiet street instantly, anticipating his next move, and was entirely unsurprised to see the orbs begin to form ever so slowly as he tested her reaction.

"Do it, and I promise you Wyatt, you will spend the rest of the holiday in your room by yourself."

He immediately ceased and desisted, recognizing that he had pushed her as far as he could; if he tried anything else he really would be all by himself for the rest of the day. As much as he didn't want to go to the club, he didn't want to be in his room while everyone else played later on either. He glared, ensuring her awareness of his continued discontent, but Piper merely rolled her eyes again and gestured impatiently to the inside of the jeep.

"I get it. You're mad. Get in."

She slammed his door closed once he was safely buckled in, and she just-barely-remembered to unfreeze the street before climbing in on her own side and starting the engine. She shook her head, exasperated by her own incompetence.

Her phone rang as she finally began driving down the street, and as she felt through her purse for the device, she missed the wary look that passed between the boys in the back seat.

"Hello?"

What Wyatt and Chris always noticed, what she never did, was the way her voice jumped when she talked to anyone who wasn't them. And then Wyatt wasn't angry anymore. As he absently listened to Piper reassure Phoebe that she wouldn't get distracted at the club, that she would be in and out and back at the manor in time for presents like they had planned, he felt sad more than anything. At least when she was yelling at him, she still sounded like herself. If she ever talked to him the way she was talking to Phoebe right now, he was sure he wouldn't be able to help but cry.

Piper carelessly tossed the phone on the passenger seat and smiled brightly into the rear-view mirror when she came to a stop at a red light. She fought against the slight, painful flutter in her stomach when both her sons looked away. Ruin children's Christmas. Check. Make children hate you. Check. Her list grew longer as she agitatedly waited for the light to turn green.

* * *

Chris hated her smile. He hated the way her eyes never moved anymore, even when her mouth did. He hated that nothing about her sparkled. He hated that he couldn't fix her the way he was sure his dad would be able to if his dad hadn't disappeared. And then he hated his dad. Because all this had started when he went away. But Chris knew better than to say that last part aloud; he had learned from the last time. That last time, when he had said it and then Mommy had cried and Wyatt had hit him so hard he had wanted to cry too. She had pulled him onto her lap and kissed the spot on his arm better and made Wyatt apologize, but it hadn't been the same. It hadn't been like before.

"Chris, sweetie." She was crouching in front of him now. And the keys were still in the car. She had to call Phoebe the last three days in a row because she kept leaving them in there, and she was going to close the door and forget again. She had never forgotten when his dad was around. He opened his mouth to remind her, but Wyatt was already climbing into the driver's seat and quickly removing them from the ignition. She had used her fake happy voice yesterday when they had been locked out of the car and Uncle Coop had come to get them, and her voice had shaken so much it had scared even Wyatt. Neither of them wanted to hear that voice again. It was even worse than crying. At least when she cried she was still his mom, even if she was sad. When she wasn't crying and there were more people around than just him and Wyatt, he couldn't tell who she was pretending to be. He just wanted the game to stop and his dad to come back so that mommy could go back to being mommy; if she was just her, then he could just be him.

"Chris?" Piper repeated.

"What?" He replied sullenly, kicking at the loose chunks of pavement at his feet.

She cupped his chin and made him look at her face, "It's just a few minutes. Mommy just has a couple quick things to do and then we can start making Christmas cookies. You _live _for Christmas cookies."

He refused to answer, and Wyatt stomped his rain boots in the icy slush.

"Mommy I want to go home."

"I know you do." Piper pulled the older boy close and kissed his cheek, "I know you do, but the sooner you come inside, the sooner I can finish and we can go home."

"You get mad when we come here."

"No I don't." Piper laughed unconvincingly, "I don't get mad! I admittedly get a little frustrated when you two break things inside after I've told you a hundred times not to touch them, but your dad…

Her voice trailed off, and her smile faltered, and her eyes began to sparkle. It was the sad sparkle, not the happy one, but Wyatt and Chris shared a sense of relief. At least she was Piper again.

"Can you boys please just come inside with me without arguing? Please?"

Her voice cracked, and without another word Wyatt threw his arms around her neck and nodded into her shoulder. She exhaled gratefully and stood up, savouring Wyatt's increasingly rare desire to be held. His gangly legs dangled at her sides, and she held out her free hand to Chris, who took it without question.

They entered the club together and carefully made their way down the stairs, where they were immediately accosted by her assistant manager.

"Piper, I'm so glad you're here."

"Taylor what are you doing here? It's Christmas; even _I'm_ only here to do payroll."

Chris cringed, and Wyatt immediately began squirming to be put down. There was that voice again. That stranger's voice. Wyatt felt anger brewing at the interruption that had taken away his mother, and he wished that everyone, even his aunts and uncles, would just leave, because it was always worse around other people.

"I stopped by to pick up a coat I left here a few days ago; it's a good thing I did. A pipe burst in the back… all the boxes are soaked."

Piper sighed, "How bad's the damage."

Taylor shifted uncomfortably, "It's not looking too good."

Belatedly, his eyes fell on Wyatt and Chris, and he smiled.

"Sorry guys. What's up? I like your boots, Chris."

Not surprisingly, Chris turned his face into Piper's thigh and gripped her jeans tightly. Taylor laughed, not in the least offended by the child's predictable reaction, and he turned to Wyatt instead.

"You all pumped up for Christmas dinner, my man?"

Wyatt glared at him, "I hate Christmas dinner. And I hate Christmas. And presents."

"Wyatt." Piper reprimanded sharply, then she looked back at Taylor and delivered a falsetto laugh, "Don't mind him; he's just a little cranky today because I dragged him here against his will."

Taylor chuckled, "I feel your pain buddy. It's just cruel to have to be here when you've got loads of cool stuff waiting to be played with at home."

"I don't want to talk!" Wyatt yelled suddenly, startling everyone in the room. "I want my daddy! And we aren't having Christmas until he comes back!"

There was an awkward silence, and Piper wordlessly lifted Wyatt back into her arms; he didn't resist. She hadn't known how to address Leo's absence with the casual acquaintances that would think to ask about him; Chris and Wyatt's teachers, their classmates' parents... her employees. She had been putting off creating a concrete story, unable to deal with the finality of it all. The Christmas season being as busy a time as it was, until this point, no one had thought twice about the fact that a month had passed without them seeing her husband. She met Taylor's shocked gaze, and roughly cleared her throat.

"Leo went camping with a couple old friends from out of town… they were supposed to be home a few days ago, but no one's heard anything from them."

The lie was weak, but it rolled easily off her tongue even as Wyatt and Chris both stiffened. She had been forced into this position enough times to know that the lie itself didn't matter, she just needed enough plausible details to make the story unlikely, but conceivable.

Taylor's eyes widened in sympathy, "Shit." he swore. "Whereabouts did they go?"

"Canada." Piper said vaguely; no one knew where anything was in Canada. "Apparently the ice fishing/winter camping thing is popular up north this time of year. Marc's from Quebec… he met Leo and Brent on some high school trip. It was never really my thing… I used to go, but then we had the boys…" She cleared her throat again and lied through her teeth, happy and sad at the same time that she had become so good at this, only her family could tell when she was blatantly pulling things out of the air. "… it's been really hard for all of us; the boys especially. You can see why I wouldn't exactly be comfortable just coming out and blurting something so personal."

Taylor's lips moved silently as he stretched his brain for an appropriate response, "What did the police say?"

"I filed a report a few days ago."

She added this tidbit to her growing list of falsehoods, and ignored the pain in her chest upon the realization that she might actually be forced to carry this one out. Her and Leo's lives were very much intertwined; it wasn't going to be much longer before people outside the magical community started noticing his absence.

"Marc's wife has them searching the area they last called from, but nothing's been found yet."

"That's why you were so distracted and missed payroll." He concluded guiltily, "And there I was nagging you about it. I'm so sorry, Piper." He said earnestly.

"Hey, that's alright." She dismissed, "You didn't know. Quite frankly, you weren't supposed to know. Being weighed down by my personal life isn't exactly part of your job description. I just thought you deserved a bit of an explanation for Wyatt's outburst."

He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, avoiding her gaze as he fiddled with a stray fibre on his pullover.

"Sorry I ambushed you like that when you came in… I can totally handle this. I can even figure out payroll if you want me to."

At this, Piper smiled, feeling a twinge of guilt for so completely duping her eager-to-please employee.

"It's fine, Taylor, show me the scene of the trainwreck."

"Are you sure? Because really, I can-

"What did I just say? Go. I'm right behind you."

She waited expectantly until he finally turned and walked away, and then she sighed and collapsed on the bottom step. Wyatt's grip tightened around her neck.

"Buddy." The admonishment was so gentle, the word was more of a caress than anything else against his enraged skin. "You know better than that."

"I don't care." His voice was angry, muffled by the thick material of her sweater.

Chris saw the tears forming in Piper's eyes, and he reached across her body to pinch his brother sharply.

"Ow! Don't!" Wyatt snapped.

"You hit me last time I made mommy cry, and now look what you did!" Chris yelled back protectively, "Uncle Henry said to be good!"

Piper bit her lip; she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Handling her own heartbreak was difficult enough; it seemed cruel for her to be expected to shoulder the weight of her sons' as well.

Wyatt kicked out his leg viciously and caught Chris in the shins. Piper quickly put an arresting hand on his knee before he could try again.

"Don't kick your brother."

"He hit me first!"

"I did not! Mom, he's telling a lie. I didn't hit him."

"Chris, in this family, we do not hit each other. Or pinch. We use our words, okay? Wyatt, just because he touched you first, doesn't mean you get to hit him."

She couldn't count the number of times she had delivered that exact speech – or close to it – in the past. Leo had once made her laugh mid lecture by moving his lips along with hers when the boys couldn't see him. But she didn't want to think about that now.

"It's okay to cry and be sad. It's what people do when they lose someone they love. It's how you eventually get better. Eventually, it won't hurt so badly. I promise."

"Can't we just tell daddy we want him back?" Chris asked softly.

"No, honey." Piper whispered, drawing him in to what she hoped was a somewhat comforting hug. "Your dad, he loves you so, _so_ much. If there was any way at all he could come back to you, he would. This wasn't up to your father, or to me. He can't come back."

"But-

"Your dad is going to be watching you all the time; he just can't do it from where you can see him anymore."

"Why?" Chris demanded.

She pulled him closer and kissed the top of his head, and she desperately wished she could do something more. She didn't want to think about Leo. She wanted to lock him in the closet with all of his things, but she was forced to feign calmness and sanity every minute of the day for the sake of her sons.

"I want to go home." Wyatt repeated stubbornly.

"Me too. I want to go home and wait for daddy."

"Buddy he can't come back. Once people die, they can't stay on earth with their families anymore."

"What about Grandma and Grams? They're dead."

"Sweetie, a really, really really long time had to pass before they were able to come visit. You two are going to have to be patient. Know that I love you, and be patient."

Suddenly a door flew open, and Taylor came back into sight.

"Piper, I-

He stopped abruptly when he saw them sitting on the stairs.

"Sorry, I'll come back."

"Don't be silly, what is it?"

The stranger was back, and Wyatt climbed off Piper's lap and settled at Chris' side.

"I was just going to say that I have the situation in the back under control. Really. If you want to just go home…"

She stood up and brushed the dirt from her jeans. "I'm coming. I might as well take a look while I'm here. Wyatt, Chris? Go wait in my office, okay? I'll be two minutes. And no colouring, erasing, or touching any of the papers on my desk, alright? I'm serious."

The boys grudgingly trudged in the direction of the tiny hallway, and Wyatt shot Taylor one last hate filled glance as he passed. He knew better than to talk about his dad… he liked to just pretend that his dad was "Up There," where Auntie Paige had to go sometimes, and not think about him at all. But he had been so angry…

Piper was speaking in a high, animated voice to Taylor, and Wyatt and Chris traded looks of trepidation. They were never sure if they should be pretending to be someone every time she did.

"So how long do we have to wait?"

"For what?" Wyatt snapped irritably as he pushed open the heavy door to Piper's office.

"For daddy. For him to stop being dead."

"You can't stop being dead, dummy."

"_You're_ the dummy." Chris muttered.

The boys sat in silence, and Wyatt almost felt terrible enough to apologize. Almost. He liked routine. He liked linear pattern. He liked everyone to act the way they were supposed to, and right now, no one in his family was co-operating with his needs.

Chris was his best friend… no one he knew, not even any of the people he saw at school, was as fun to play with as his brother. But right now, Chris was getting on his nerves. Chris wanted to talk about daddy all the time, and Wyatt didn't want to talk about him ever. Besides, he was still mad at himself for crying like a baby. He had enjoyed being held, and he hadn't wanted to be put down. Except, more than he hadn't wanted to be put down, he hadn't wanted to be held by _her_.

"Do you want to draw stuff underneath Mom's desk where she can't see it?" He offered; casting forth the proverbial olive branch.

"No." Chris answered quietly, flipping through a picture book on the couch.

Wyatt sighed, "I'm sorry I called you a dummy."

"I don't want to play with you, Wy."

"I said I was sorry."

Chris closed his book and tossed it aside, "You're being mean all the time. And I'm not playing with you anymore."

"Chris, I don't want to talk about daddy. Okay? Can we just play? I won't be mean if you just stop talking about him and about being dead."

Chris paused, and then nodded solemnly and hopped off the couch, picking a sharpie marker up from the desk before crouching beside Wyatt.

"I'm gonna make a dinosaur."

"I'll write your name underneath it when you're done. I'm getting really good at writing names; mommy and daddy-

He cut himself off and fiddled with his pen; Chris pretended not to notice.

"Mom said so." He finished.

Without another word, the two boys resumed their colouring.

Piper was gone for so long, they stopped keeping an ear attuned to the door. Her entrance startled them, and they were caught red handed defacing the underside of her desk.

The Piper they knew would have punished them. She would have calmly gathered gloves and cleaning supplies and told them to get to work. But the stranger did none of these things. The stranger shook her head and told them to gather their coats without comment. Then the stranger began rifling through her purse for her keys, and Wyatt frantically retrieved them from his own pocket before she could pull out her phone and begin using _that_ voice.

Chris took his brother's hand so that he didn't have to hold hers, and then they left via the back exit.

* * *

Wyatt, Chris and Laura opened their shiny gifts in the middle of the living room floor and played happily for hours. Seeing the children so content let a tiny ray of warm light reach the cold, empty recesses of Piper's heart.

"Mommy watch this! Mom? Are you looking? Are you looking Mom?"

She exchanged a smile with Phoebe, ignoring the concern written across her sister's face. She wasn't going to fall apart, and she really wished they would stop looking at her like they expected her to. She had woken up early, cooked breakfast, made dinner, baked treats… all the things she did on holidays; and what she couldn't explain to them was that there was no risk of her having a breakdown, when no amount of trying on her part made the day feel even remotely like Christmas.

Christmas passed. Nothing more needed to be said. It was a day… one out of three hundred and sixty five, and it came and it went, and nothing changed because of it.

* * *

The next morning, Piper was up at the crack of dawn; her mind racing with the dread of what she had firmly resolved to do before the day's end.

She heard footsteps pounding down the stairs; Henry. It had to be. With Leo gone, he was the only one left who ever made that much noise. By the time he popped into the kitchen, she already had a cup of coffee prepared for him.

"Morning." She chirped, holding the mug out before her.

He accepted her offering and took a grateful gulp. "Must you be so cheerful before eleven?"

She shrugged, "I have two young kids; you learn."

Henry laughed; he would give her that one. Twelve days with Chris and Wyatt a month and a half ago, and he still flinched when he thought of the ungodly hour at which they chose to greet the world.

"Speaking of the little monsters…?"

"They're at dad's." she replied easily, taking a sip from her own warm mug, "I just came back from dropping them off."

"Why?" Henry furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Because I'm stepping out, and you guys have jobs to get to."

"It's boxing day, Piper. No one has a job to get to."

Henry watched her warily as she washed out her mug, placed it in the draining bin and began wiping down the counters. He had heard Phoebe and Paige toss the words, "Piper-light" around a lot lately, and he wasn't sure which was worse; the headcase he had met two and a half years ago, or the robot he was dealing with now.

"Piper, we're here because we want to be. You know that. So what's the real reason you shipped out Wyatt and Chris?"

"Because I'm going to the police station to report Leo missing, and I feel like that may confuse them." Piper answered nonchalantly.

Henry coughed.

"What?"

She turned around and looked at him as if he had grown a second head, "Police station." She repeated slowly. "Missing persons report. People have already noticed Leo's absence, and in case you've forgotten, we don't exactly have a body we can produce and bury."

"Piper-

"It's okay." She shrugged offhandedly, "It needs to be done. And please don't be offended by my saying this, but you four need to go home. Seriously. I don't need a babysitter. I've been here alone the last month, and I don't need you all trying to hold my hand just because it was Christmas yesterday. I'm fine."

He definitely preferred the headcase to the robot.

"I'm coming with you."

"Henry-

"It's done, Piper. I needed to head there myself anyways."

Piper allowed herself a small smile. "I thought you said no one had jobs today."

He drained the contents of his cup and tossed it in the sink, giving her his best parole officer glare when she made a move toward it.

"Don't be a smartass. We're taking my truck."

* * *

"… and when was the last time you saw him?"

Her heart was beating too fast. She was going to have a panic attack.

She heard suspicion in his tone, saw indifference in his face. Her reputation preceded her; she was only going through the motion by being here, and she knew, she _knew_ the officer taking her statement had already concluded as much. The Halliwells were dangerous; by some luck they had never been arrested – or, never had a charge stick, it was probably more accurate to say. Nevertheless, bad things happened around them, and more than one cop on this force had paid dearly for playing ally.

"When was the last time you saw him?" the officer repeated impatiently.

Henry squeezed her hand, and she tried to swallow past the sand clogging her throat. She pulled her hand away from his; her palms were too embarrassingly slick to touch.

"Yesterday evening." She lied softly, "He went for a run after dinner, and he never came back."

There wasn't enough air in this room.

"You've tried his cellphone? Family? Friends?"

Maybe it would have been easier to just pretend he left her. After all, that had always seemed to be the immediate solution in the past. But in the past, she had wanted to hate him. She had wanted to hurt him. And telling everyone that they were divorced, telling everyone that he had left, she had thought at the time that it would help her. It hadn't. And now he was truly gone and she couldn't, couldn't, couldn't sit here and try to find that same desire to hate again. People went missing in cities all the time, and now, so would he.

She cleared her throat, "He never takes his phone with him when he runs. And his family is, well, my family. His parents were only children, he was an only child…"

The officer's eyes snapped to attention, "Was?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said he _was_, an only child. Past tense. Is there something else you'd like to tell me Miss Halliwell?"

Her eyes were wild with panic, and for a moment, Henry feared she might actually bolt.

"She's very understandably upset right now." He spoke sharply, "Don't twist her words."

The man shrugged and made a few notations on his clipboard.

"And his possessions? Clothes, cars, toothbrush, shaving kit… are any of them missing?"

His clothes. Packing away the ones in the closet had nearly killed her. She hadn't been able to empty the drawers. She had gone as far as placing a trembling hand on the handle, but the smell, _his_ comforting smell, had overpowered her senses, and she couldn't imagine opening the drawer and meeting it head on.

Every time she drew near the dresser, she held her breath.

"All there." She whispered, "They're all there."

"And have you two been experiencing any problems in your relationship as of late?"

"No."

"Your sex life?"

_He bites her shoulder and it hurts. Which is surprising, because she is the biter, not him. And she thinks he must have missed her very much. She thinks it must have been much harder for him to be patient than he let on. Her body shudders, and she can feel his own muscles shaking as he lifts her onto the island counter. The boys are asleep again, and they will have to be quiet, only she doesn't think she can. It's the first real fight they've had since his return, and as always, adrenaline and endorphins run high and they eagerly, clumsily strip each other to relieve them. She thrusts her hips reflexively into his, and his hand –_

"None of your business."

It came out so fiercely, the policeman and Henry were equally taken aback, despite the fact her voice didn't rise above the soft whisper it had been stuck in since they entered the building.

"None of your goddamn business."

* * *

Piper-light had cracked. They both knew it. Henry drove the pickup in silence while Piper stared out the window, and they both tried very hard to pretend the interview hadn't changed everything.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

If anyone asked her, she wouldn't be able to tell them exactly what it had been about that morning that had inspired her last minute decision to turn her sons' stay at Victor's into an overnight affair. She had been perched on their desk, watching them both sleep and taking comfort in the fact that she must be doing _something_ right for them to still sleep so easily, the occasional nightmare aside. She certainly didn't sleep anymore.

She had expected nightmares when Leo died… she continued to expect them, even though time had thus far indicated they weren't coming. She knew nightmares; they were familiar for her. And she almost thought the vivid dreams she had in their place were worse, because in them, Leo was never dead. When she dreamed, he was vibrant, and bright, and so was she, and he smiled and she laughed and she could so realistically feel the warmth of his touch she cried from the brutal, casual normalcy of it all every time she woke up.

But that was beside the point. She had been watching her sons sleep, and then she had simply known that she would not be able to function when she returned from the police station. It would be painful, she had been prepared for that, but she had known the only way she could deal with that kind of pain would be by disassociating herself from it. The problem with disassociation was that it wasn't selective; she couldn't turn off her feelings regarding Leo without it affecting the emotions she displayed around her sons, and she didn't want Wyatt or Chris to ever hold a memory of her acting cold toward them.

Her reasoning had been wholly unselfish. At the time. But it was possible that she had perhaps, on a subconscious level, wanted this one day to herself. _Needed_ this day to herself. And her mind had merely found a convenient means of justifying her actions. Regardless, after her sisters and niece and Henry and Coop finally left the manor, the moment she locked the door behind them a weight lifted from her shoulders even as her crushing grief fought to get out.

Truly alone, for the first time since Leo's death, Piper knew better than to let it.

* * *

"No! No no no no no no no."

His voice shook with rage, and he struggled against the restraints that had been placed on him. For his own protection, of course. Right.

"There's no point in fighting it, Leo." Sandra's voice floated gracefully across the room.

"I won't do it."

"You don't have a choice. And your insolence grows tiresome." Odin barked.

"I didn't ask for this. _You_ did this to me. And I am _not_ starting over! Do you hear me? If you send me back, I'm going straight to her."

"We'll recycle you." Odin threatened.

Leo had never imagined himself as having much of a temper, but with every year he lived… or died, then lived, then died, then lived again... the one he _did_ have seemed to get worse.

"I have nothing left to lose." He spoke menacingly, "I'm already dead. She watched me die; she'll move on."

Odin laughed, "What kind of fools do you take us for? Move on? No no. She'll pine, and she'll whine, and then she'll pine some more, but consciously or subconsciously, she _will_ spend the rest of her life waiting for you to come back. We've seen it before. And, as long as you can maintain a faint shadow of hope that we'll one day relent, that we'll one day allow the two of you to re-establish your union, you _will_ follow the rules. It's the way you think, Leo. Your love for her blinds you to everything and anything else; it always has. We've just figured out a way to use it to keep you in line for once."

"You can't do this."

"It's already been done, boy."

"Odin, that's enough." Sandra interrupted.

A month. He had been stuck here for over a month, and neither elder was budging. It looked as if Recycling was not, in actual fact, the worst thing they could do to him. The worst thing was being trapped here, with the same powers he had been only too willing to give up almost three years ago, stuck in fucking limbo. They wouldn't send him back until he promised not to go to Piper, and he wasn't going anywhere on earth except San Francisco, California. They could have just let him die, but they hadn't. And now _they_ could deal with the consequences of _their_ actions.

"Leo, this isn't meant to be a punishment." Sandra soothed, "Things happen for a reason. You gave up your life to save hers, and now you, in turn, are being given the chance to continue helping others. Saving others. The way you were so good, so natural, at doing before…"

"Before I met Piper." He finished bitterly.

"Before you lost your way." She amended softly.

Leo stared at the ground, feeling chastised in that way only Sandra could manage.

"You chose Piper; you chose a mortal life. And you lived your mortal life with her. Now you're being given a second chance. You're a powerful force for good, Leo Wyatt. You always have been."

"I don't want to be a powerful force for good." He stated passionately, "That's their destiny; not mine. I just want to be with her."

"This is ridiculous." Odin roared. "For the last time, you have no choice in this matter. You _will_ go back to earth, and you _will _tend to your charges, and you _will not _see the eldest witch ever again."

"And how are you going to keep me from her, Odin." Leo taunted, "Recycle me, don't… it's your decision. As you said, _I have no choice_. But, send me to earth, and the first place I will go is the manor."

"Why you-

Odin's hand shot forward, and a jolt of electricity surged through Leo's body. He tried to hold back the cry of pain, but it climbed into his throat, and he was suffocating until-

"Enough!" Sandra commanded. Her authoritative voice resonated throughout the chamber, and Leo could swear he still heard it ringing long after Odin obediently ceased his attack. He had lived eighty-four years, and he could live eighty-four more, and he would never, _never_ understand how someone like Odin had become an Elder in the first place.

"Leave us."

Odin's eyes danced with rage, but he submissively flipped up his hood and loudly quitted the room.

Sandra's eyes were stormy when she turned back Leo's way; this was as close as she ever came to losing her temper. Despite her one attempt to kill him, if pressed, Leo would be forced to grudgingly admit that he _did_ hold her in high regard. He didn't always agree with her, but she was fair. And that was more than he could say for Odin.

"Would you really leave so many young mortals, so many good beings, at risk and unprotected? You're being given an opportunity here, Leo."

Leo hung his head, the guilt that accompanied his selfish motives warring against a heart that really, honestly, just wanted to hold his wife and sons.

"I would never wish anyone unprotected." Leo answered softly, carefully, "But there are others. Others who can dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to the cause. And I just don't think I can do that anymore."

"I have known you your entire life, Leo. And that isn't true."

"I don't know what you want me to say." Leo sighed resignedly. He was utterly exhausted. He was tired of fighting. He was sick of this stupid room. He wanted to go home.

"I want you to admit to me that, for a time, even after Piper, you enjoyed your work. You thrived helping others; even those outside Piper, Phoebe, Paige or Prue."

"I have never once denied that. _You_ are the one who made me choose. Before… before I became an Elder, I managed both. And we were happy."

"You were happy when things were calm. When the power struggles began, and you were called away, it was not so easy. You resisted us many times, Leo, I remember."

Leo shrugged, "We managed."

"I don't want to lose you, Leo. It was my decision to bring you back. It was my hope that you would want to return."

"I can't." his voice was a pained whisper, "Don't you understand, Sandra? I can't. I can't do it without her, because in my heart I don't want to. She made me… better. _She_ is the most powerful force for good I know."

Sandra nodded, and then she peered keenly into his eyes. Whatever it was she was searching for, Leo hoped she would find it quickly.

Finally, she stepped back, apparently satisfied with what she had seen.

"I have a compromise."

* * *

"… and you just let us leave?!" Paige yelled at Henry, her voice high pitched with disbelief.

He sighed, "I thought it was the right thing to do!"

"And it didn't occur to you to tell Phoebe or me where you guys went, what you guys were doing… how it was bound to devastate her?"

"Paige, she doesn't want to be around us. That's her prerogative. To be honest, I think we're all making it worse. Just leave her alone."

"Don't tell me how to handle my sister." She snapped.

"In case you weren't paying attention when I was talking, she was upset on the way home. _She let herself be sad_. And then the minute we walked through the door, she started doing her weird robot thing again. We aren't helping." Henry said forcefully.

"But-

"She needs to grieve; and if she can't do it around us, then we need to give her space until she's ready."

"I'm calling Phoebe."

"And doing what?!" he said, exasperation colouring his tone as he raked a hand through his hair. "She'll call you when she needs you. Like she always does. She's not the same person she was two and a half years ago."

"What about the boys?"

"What about them? If anything, they'll help things. She won't do anything crazy with them around, and she's barely let them leave her side since this whole mess started. She's probably picked them up from Victor's already."

"I'm calling Phoebe." Paige repeated stubbornly.

He threw his arms up in the air, "I don't know why I bother."

"I don't know why you do either!"

* * *

Paige orbed into the manor kitchen, and released Phoebe's shoulder once they were both fully formed. The room was empty, but she could hear soft strains of music coming from the parlour. They followed the mellow beat and found Piper sitting on the couch; the table in front of her littered with paper and graphs and coloured charts.

"What are you doing?" Phoebe asked, puzzled.

Piper startled and turned stunned eyes to her sisters. "Huh?"

"What are you doing?" Phoebe repeated.

"Payroll."

Her sister still seemed surprised, and for the first time since she decided to come over, Paige began to doubt herself. Maybe, heaven forbid, Henry had actually been right. Piper seemed relaxed, albeit slightly wary of their sudden arrival.

Her eyes widened as Piper took a long drink from the wine glass sitting in front of her, and a glance in Phoebe's direction told her that her sister hadn't noticed the nearly empty bottle until that moment either.

"Piper, it's two thirty in the afternoon."

"Uh huh…"

"Where are Chris and Wyatt?"

"At dad's." She answered distractedly, already focused on her paperwork, "I'm leaving them there tonight."

"How much have you had?" Phoebe asked cautiously.

"Not enough to be drunk, if that's what you're asking." Piper laughed bitterly, "This," she held up the wine bottle, "is not going to do the trick. It was only half full; Leo and I… what are you guys doing here?"

"We were worried about you."

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. I've got all the company I need right now."

"Piper-

"I'm very busy, Phoebe." Piper exhaled tensely, "I saw you guys three hours ago. I think we're good on sisterly bonding."

Her head bent down and she made a tiny notation in the margin of a loose sheet of paper filled with numbers. Conversation over.

When Paige orbed herself home after dropping off Phoebe, Henry was sprawled out casually on the couch.

"I told you so."

"Shut up."

* * *

"So we're agreed?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"There's always a choice."

"Yes. We're agreed."

* * *

The words swam in front of her as she tried to concentrate on the building code sheet at the top of the stack of papers adorning her desk. She could hear the music pulsating from the other side of the door, but here, safe in her office, she was sheltered from everyone outside. Even her sisters. After seven more unannounced appearances at the house – four of them being _hours _after her comfortable wine buzz wore off – she had lost all semblance of patience with them and driven to P3. At least here she could drink in peace.

She poured whiskey into the empty tumbler beside her and chugged it gratefully, savouring the way it burned down her throat and encased her in warmth.

What was that saying? Liquor before beer, you're in the clear… beer before liquor, never been sicker. Did that apply to wine as well? Did she care?

She paused a moment to think, and then decided that she did not. For the time being, she felt fantastic. And that was what tonight was about. That was all that mattered.

She poured another few shots into the tumbler and swept all the papers off her desk, feeling a surge of satisfaction when she watched the mess settle to the floor. She could handle a little mess. She could _enjoy_ a little mess. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. The smooth beat of "Sex on Fire" pumped through her ears, and suddenly what she wanted to do more than anything was dance. Staying in the back room would be the responsible thing to do… hell, at this point, going home would be the responsible thing to do, but she would have her one night. One, satiating, self destructive night where she could act based solely on what Piper wanted in the moment. And right now, Piper wanted to dance.

* * *

"Duck voice." Laura demanded, pointing to the bright yellow duck in the storybook Phoebe was reading her.

"Sweetie, Mommy's tired. She doesn't want to do the duck voice."

"Duck!" Laura repeated.

Phoebe sighed, then tilted her head when she heard the phone ring; a second later, she heard Coop answer. Shrugging her shoulders, she was about to continue reading when her husband stuck his head in the doorway.

"It's for you."

Phoebe glanced at her watch; 12:45am. She raised her eyebrows questioningly at Coop, but he merely shrugged.

"I don't know. It's some guy… Devin I think?"

She sat straight up in the rocking chair and leaned forward alertly, "Devin? As in, bartender at P3 Devin?"

"I guess…"

She hurried across the room and exchanged him the cordless phone for their daughter as she passed him.

"Hello?"

"Phoebe?"

"Yeah it's me… what's going on?"

"Sorry to call so late… I know you have a kid; I can't find Paige's number though, and Piper just about took my head off when I tried to take her phone and find it."

"She did what? What is she doing at the club?"

"I think she needs someone to come get her. She's having a little too much fun."

Phoebe closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. This was just great.

"Don't let her leave until Paige and I get there."

"I'll do my best. You should hurry though."

Piper clicked the disconnect button without further response, and she quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail while she raced through her bedroom in search of a change of clothes.

"What happened?"

Coop stood just inside the door, Laura cradled against his chest, and it warmed Phoebe's heart to see that, after three hours, the little girl was finally close to falling asleep.

"Piper."

She didn't offer more of a response than that… she didn't know why, but somehow it didn't seem fair to her sister. She pulled off her pyjama bottoms and swiftly yanked a dirty pair of jeans on in their place.

"Paige!" She hollered at the ceiling.

In two seconds flat, Paige orbed into her bedroom, still fully dressed in the clothes she had been wearing earlier that day.

"Piper?" She asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

Paige shrugged, "I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting night. Hey Coop!"

"Hey Paige." He smiled.

Phoebe walked over to her husband and daughter and placed gentle kisses on both their cheeks.

"I'll be back soon."

Paige watched the exchange awkwardly from the centre of the room; despite their one talk, she could never feel as comfortable around Coop as she felt… _had_ felt, around Leo. Although, she had known Leo longer, so it was probably wrong of her to compare. Coop loved Phoebe, and he was good to her and Laura, so she supposed those were the only things that should matter.

"Let's go."

* * *

Paige wanted to orb over, but Phoebe validly pointed out that there would be no way to keep from raising Devin's suspicion if they showed up at the club two minutes after his phone call. In the end they compromised; taking Phoebe's car, but orbing inside from the parking lot in order to avoid fighting their way through the entrance.

They orbed into Piper's office, which was empty, save for the bottles littering the desk and the papers littering the floor. Piper was in bad shape indeed if she couldn't even be bothered to pick up after herself. Phoebe opened the door, and was instantly struck with a 2001 flashback as she watched her older sister dance with surprising elegance across the bar. Piper was one of the few people she knew who actually did dance better when intoxicated; even when there _wasn't_ another being hostilely asserting control of her body.

"Oh my God." Paige breathed slowly.

"This is not good."

Devin's eyes met theirs from across the room, and he quickly made his way over to the two sisters.

"I didn't even see you come in."

"Not surprising, considering how packed you guys are tonight." Paige fibbed with ease. "How long has she been like this?"

He threw up his hands helplessly, "I don't know. When I noticed I didn't want to say anything… I mean she's the boss… but I remembered what Taylor said about Leo and I thought-

"You did fine." Phoebe assured distractedly. The guy was nice, but really, all she wanted to do was get her sister off that bar. "Thanks."

They pushed their way to the front of the bar, past the onlookers, and Paige reached up a hand and tugged on Piper's pant leg.

"Piper, get down here right now."

Piper flicked her off without missing a beat of the music, "Don't tell me what to do, Paige."

Certain that everyone within sight was either well on their way to Piper's state, or too into the music to notice, Paige orbed away one of Piper's stilettos just as she went to balance on it. With a shriek of surprise, Piper tumbled off the bar, and Paige smoothly kept her from falling face first onto the floor.

"Oh look at that. Sweetie you should be more careful." Paige smirked.

"Give me back my shoe!" Piper demanded indignantly.

"In good time."

"Piper, this is ridiculous. We need to get you home."

At this, Piper whipped her head around so quickly she almost lost her balance again, and Paige shot Phoebe a warning look as she barely managed to catch Piper in time.

"This is _not_ ridiculous, Phoebe. I'm sick of being the responsible one. I'm sick of holding it together. _You_ go home."

Paige guided her into the alcove, smart enough to know better than to try and reason with her. Then she handed her the stolen shoe and watched as Piper struggled to reattach it to her foot. Under any other circumstance, it would have been comical. She had seen Piper tipsy a handful of times, even Leo, once. Although he had been so nonchalant about it, to this day she couldn't quite be sure whether or not she had seen what she thought. But Piper was far past happy tipsy; there had been a time in Paige's life when she had been only too familiar with this level of desperate inebriation. The desire to forget; the desire to escape everything she was; she shuddered at the thought of her loving, heartbroken sister being stuck in that place.

"Honey, this isn't going to help. It's not going to go away." She said softly, stroking her sister's tangled hair.

"Think of your boys, Piper." Phoebe added, "Think of the boys, and come home."

Piper slammed her foot against the floor with so much force, Phoebe was surprised to see that the heel held. Piper's piercing, albeit glassy gaze bore into her, and she couldn't help but shrink back slightly at the rampant hatred she saw. She didn't need to be an empath to feel that anger.

"When was the last time you saw me drunk?"

"What?"

"When was the last time you saw me drunk?" She repeated coldly.

Phoebe couldn't tell if her slow enunciation was for effect, or if it was just the only way she could currently get her words out clearly. She looked to Paige, but Paige merely glared at her in a blatant, _now you've done it_, way.

"I don't know, Piper."

"When was the last time you saw me drunk?"

She was getting increasingly loud and anxious, and Phoebe racked her brain for a memory, _any_ memory, she could throw Piper's way to appease her.

"Last year, when Leo-

"Do not say his name." She hissed, "Not ever."

"I'm sorry."

There wasn't anything else Phoebe could think to say. This person, this person in front of her wasn't Piper. And she didn't know how to deal with her.

"I asked you a question."

"Piper, I don't-

"When, Phoebe?!"

"I honestly can't remember." She admitted. "I can't remember. I'm sorry."

"When Phoebe left to be Cole's Queen." Paige cut in softly.

"That's right." Phoebe dropped eye contact, and Piper continued. "Six years ago, I lost my sister to, literally, the source of all evil, and today, I filed a fake missing person's report for my dead husband. I feel like I'm kind of justified in being upset."

"This isn't you."

Piper ignored Phoebe's insistent voice. This was _her _time to talk, and Phoebe's time to listen. Phoebe needed to do more listening. Because sometimes, sometimes, her advice really wasn't that great.

"I was never like you. I never had a wild side. I was shy, and nerdy and awkward and I got picked on all the time. Don't shake your head at me like that Phoebe, you know it's true. If anyone had an excuse to drink, it was me."

"You're not that person anymore."

"…and _you_, you with your perky magical breasts, you did what you wanted and got what you wanted and had the greatest fucking teenage years anyone could ask for. Gawky stage? Nooo… not for Phoebe Halliwell."

"Piper-

"And what did you do? You got _trashed_ after every, single, miniscule break up you had! I covered for your delinquent ass every YEAR of high school. And you're going to judge _me_, for not keeping it together twenty four hours of every goddamn day when I just lost half of my soul?"

"I was a different person then too, Piper." Phoebe defended.

Paige pinched her arm sharply, "Shut up, you're making it worse."

"Ten years, Phoebe; ten years, two break-ups, three marriage attempts, one fake divorce," she paused, "I am too drunk to even count the number of times we were ripped apart because of Them – how sad is that? Who in the world can't keep track of the number of times the person they love more than life has been ripped away from them? – plus two children that I am going to have to take care of all by myself. Starting as soon as I pick them up from dad's tomorrow. And I love them so much, and they need me… from tomorrow, I am going to be the best parent the world has ever seen. Until then, Phoebe, back the fuck off."

She wobbled on her heels back out to the dance floor, and it was only seconds before Phoebe and Paige lost sight of her frame in the dense crowd.

"Way to go, Phoebe." Paige sniped.

"What? I didn't do anything!" Phoebe protested, "I was just trying to help. I don't see why she always picks on me first."

"That would be because you can never keep your mouth shut. Besides; I'm the one she always goes for when it causes physical pain. Consider us square."

"Her heart is broken." Phoebe lamented softly. "I can feel it, and I'm not even trying. It's overwhelming. It's not even just sadness, it's like…"

"All encompassing, inner destitution." Paige finished.

"Yes. Exactly."

"Been there, done that." Paige muttered, "My liver barely survived; let's go save Piper's."

By the time they found Piper amidst the throng of people, she had somehow managed to secure a new drink. They watched her throw back about half the contents, and then she went completely still, uncertainty crossing her features. Phoebe elbowed some blonde out of her way and put a hand on Piper's back; it was a gesture made half to provide comfort, and half to keep her from running away.

"I'm about ninety four percent sure that I'm about to throw up all over myself." Piper stated offhandedly.

Paige rolled her eyes, "Not that tough for me to believe, Piper. Come on, it's time to go home."

_Home._ She took a few large swallows from her drink, unable to process much more than _home=bad_ in her current state. She didn't want to go back to the manor; to the place she has called home almost her entire life. It didn't feel like home anymore. It never did when he was gone; she was quickly running out of safe places. She thought of Wyatt; of his fine blonde hair, and his eyes that differed from his father in colour but matched him exactly in expression. She thought of Chris and his wide independent streak, and the way he smiled and patted his hands all over her face when he sat in her lap. The only time she ever felt human anymore was when she was holding one of them, and it was a bittersweet experience, because as she took comfort in the smell of their baby skin and smooth hands, it was never too long before her thoughts strayed to Leo. Wyatt's eyes and mouth, Chris' habit of running his hands through his unruly hair… all were emulations of her husband, hurting her and sustaining her all at the same time.

She tipped her head back and drained the last of the contents from her plastic cup.

"I'm not going anywhere, Paige." She spoke slowly, "You can feel free to leave without me. Take Phoebe with you."

"Alright, that's it." Phoebe yelled over the music, "We're leaving. You can walk out, or be dragged out unconscious; those are all the choices you've got left. Either way, you're going home."

Phoebe reached for her sister's arm and then promptly froze in place; as did everything else in the club. Piper sighed gratefully at the sudden silence, then she fumbled through her pockets for her car keys, dropping them on the floor several times before successfully placing them in Phoebe's outstretched palm.

"Not with you, I'm not." She snipped, with childish satisfaction.

She took a moment to refill her cup; too intoxicated to realize all but a quarter of the contents were comprised of vodka, and far beyond the point of being able to taste the difference. Without so much as a backward glance toward her sisters, Piper climbed the club steps and disappeared into the streets.

* * *

Phoebe stumbled forward slightly when her hand made contact with thin air.

"What the hell?" Paige frowned in confusion.

Phoebe glanced at her hand and glared at the keys which had, quite literally, magically appeared.

"She did not just freeze us."

"Oh I think it's pretty safe to say that she did."

They exited the club just I time to see Piper fall into a cab a little ways up the street, and despite the swift run they made to catch up with her, the taxi was peeling away from the curb by the time they reached the corner. Piper flipped them off from the backseat.

"Charming." Phoebe spat.

"What do we do now?"

Phoebe tossed Piper's keys in Paige's direction, "Follow me in her car. We'll go back to the manor. If she's there, fine. If not, we can start scrying for her."

* * *

"He continues to defy us, and we give in." Odin shook his head, outraged, "I know you've always had a bit of a bleeding heart for the boy, but this… mark my words, Sandra, you'll regret letting him go."

"We can't lose him; his talent was exceptional. Even you must see that."

"Yes, but his potential is irrelevant if we can't even get him to follow simple directions. This was a mistake."

Sandra perched herself serenely on the white bench against the chamber wall as Odin continued to pace agitatedly in front of her.

"He's immortal now."

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

"She will die before he does… as will his sons."

Odin stopped abruptly and stared at her with intent curiosity. "I thought it was my job to see the negative." He smirked.

"I'm not trying to be cruel; I'm suggesting that the only thing that keeps Leo from joining us, is his unshakeable tie to Piper. We underestimated that."

"_You _underestimated that." Odin scoffed.

His face softened off her unwavering stare. "I apologize." He amended. "That was out of line."

"My point is, it isn't necessary for us to _do _anything when time will eventually push all the pieces into place without our interference. We can be lenient with him for now; we can reduce his overnight assignments, allow him more time with his family… we can appease him, and in fifty years, when Piper is gone, we can have all of him. Willingly."

"So he's to be rewarded then, for years of defiance. _He fell from grace_. And we're going to allow him to continue on, believing his actions are ultimately without consequence. Have we come to fear the Charmed Ones' power so much?"

Sandra frowned. "I'm not proud of the turn that was taken with Leo. Their love for one another surpasses anything I could have imagined when the affair began; I often think that we were, in fact, partially to blame for driving him away. We give him her remaining years, and it restores the faith he once held in us. The faith Gideon, you, _I_, destroyed."

Odin shook his head, unconvinced. "He won't let her go."

"He will." Sandra insisted gently. "Leo understands life's cycle. He accepts it far more willingly than the girls. When the time comes, he _will_ let her go."

He sighed, "It's your call, Sandra. And I'll have no choice but to support your decision. But, I still believe this is a mistake. Leo's actions are predictable only barring influence from the Charmed Ones; who knows what half-cocked, impulsive ideas those impossibly young witches could fill his head with. They're menaces. And if anything, they're getting worse."

"They're impossibly young, as you said." Sandra argued. "But they're learning. And on some levels, they still don't adequately comprehend the vast extent of their abilities… it is my hope that they'll never need to. The sisters may be impulsive, but they've come to understand the consequences that accompany abusing magic. There isn't reason to believe this will be anything less than successful; it's a win situation for all the parties involved."

Odin sighed again, resigned to the course of action Sandra appeared set on staying.

"We'll see." He responded.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 17.... is kicking my butt. This will be the last update until I can get it finished; I start to panic if I'm not at least two chapters ahead of what I'm posting, because I will inevitably think of a new scene I should have put in, or one I should have shifted to another chapter, etc etc etc. I almost held off on 15 too, but I figured if this was a story I was reading instead of writing, I would get super pissed if there was this big repose before I even got to see Piper and Leo reunited, haha. You guys deserve at least that much for trusting me and continuing to read after I (TEMPORARILY!!) killed off our favourite whitelighter-turned human-turned whitelighter. So thanks, and hopefully this begins to make up for what I did :) .

* * *

**Chapter 15**

The first thing that registered when he appeared at the top of the bridge was the noise. Overpowering the sounds of the diesel engines, the power plants and the ever present police sirens, came the headache-inducing buzz of a mind containing countless additional voices to his own. The constant din was somewhat less intense than he remembered it being, which supported Sandra's promise of fewer charges, but still. After living as a human for going on four years, it was somewhat disorienting.

He didn't want this. Generally, between the two of them, Piper was more prone to being convinced that the world conspired against her. Often. She was frequently, in happiness, trapped in a paranoid state of waiting; on alert for the proverbial other shoe. He tended to deal with problems as they came, but in this instant, he couldn't help but laugh bitterly at the apparently cruelty of it all. Early in their relationship, their problems had all been attributed to his job. It had kept them apart in the beginning, and then she had wanted as close to a normal life as was within her power; leading her to decide they couldn't be together. Leading her to decide that it was too difficult having a relationship with someone who was couldn't be readily available.

Then they had adjusted.

Arguments had still occurred, but they had been functional. Then he wasn't a whitelighter anymore… _or_ an elder; and while one would have thought they would have benefited, Piper finally getting what she wanted, it turned out having him around all the time was more difficult than having him around never. He _still_ didn't see how she had expected him not to take that personally, but whatever. Again, they had adjusted. Adjusted beyond simply functional; they had both worked hard to be happy in their lives. And now he was a whitelighter again. It was like coming full circle, and not in the encouraging sense. In the sense that would make a more bitter man wonder what the hell the point was in trying when in the end, you were no better off than when you began. But Leo wasn't that person. While he couldn't help but hold a certain amount of contempt for the Elders – despite knowing that had it not been for their intervention, he wouldn't have ever held Piper or the boys in their earthly forms ever again – it was the look on Odin's face that left a bitter taste in his mouth. There was no denying the pleasure Odin had taken in what was done to him; not necessarily at the fact that Leo was, again, a whitelighter, but in that, by jumping off the bridge all those years ago, Leo had defied him; and now Odin was satisfied, having ultimately won the war despite losing the battle.

No, Leo was not pleased with Them, but, as had been the case so many times before, he and Piper would adjust. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and slowly the voices in his head simmered to a dull whisper. He smiled in spite of himself, discovering it still came naturally; discovering that a part of this felt more right than he had imagined it could. He had been good at this job, loved it even. Being with Piper had always felt the most right, the place he undoubtedly wanted to be, but in the last few years, he had forgotten that once upon a time, he had managed both, and it hadn't always been bad. As Piper had said on their first date, they would have had the same problems had he been a doctor. It was really only when he became more of a personal puppet to the Elders than a guide to his charges, that their real problems began.

His thoughts must have drifted to his sons, because suddenly, in his mind's eye, there they were in front of him. Fast asleep, side by side, hands touching in a double bed; chests rising and falling rhythmically in a room that wasn't from the manor… Victor's. They were with Piper's father. His smile grew wider, having not realized how much he missed being able to hear them, feel them, until now when he was once again able to do so. He thought of Piper next; intentionally this time, and he frowned when he could only sense the blurriest of images. He couldn't even get a decipherable read of her emotions. He sought out Phoebe and Paige, easily pinpointing them as close, but not together… somewhere on fourth street. He sensed concern and determination, but none of the cold fear that came off of the sisters in waves when one of them was in danger. At least there was a small amount of comfort to be found in that.

He renewed his efforts to focus on Piper, concentrating on her smell; a blend of vanilla and spices he could never remember the names of. Concentrating on her hair, wavy and long, forever falling in her face, on her sparkling brown eyes, and her beautiful mouth crookedly turned in a half smile of silent amusement.

The connection lasted only a fragment of a second, just long enough for him to feel her… floating? Like she was asleep, but she wasn't asleep… then the image blurred again and faded away all together, leaving him every bit as confused as he had been before.

Odin. The explanation stiffened his posture and set his mouth in a grim line. Odin had to be behind this. He was blocking his connection to Piper in order to force him to strictly adhere to the Elders' calls and the calls of his other charges without distraction. But it wasn't fair… Sandra had promised…

Could this be some loophole to the terms that he hadn't seen coming? He had been promised he would continue on as whitelighter to the Charmed Ones… and Piper was most definitely a Charmed One. But what if They had put restrictions in place? What if he could only hear explicit calls from her for help? Enraged, Leo glanced toward the heavens, contemplating a return trip Up There to have this out once and for all. He was staying with Piper, and she would always come first. They needed to get over that already. Then the anger left his body as swiftly as it had come; as much as he resented Them for it, he could be worse off right now. He should be spending time with the family he had thought he lost instead of loitering on the bridge. He thought back to Wyatt and Chris, sleeping so peacefully, and sighed. He would wage war with the Elders tomorrow. Right now, he was going to see his sons.

* * *

Victor slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the clock on the bedside table; 1:23am. He sat up silently, attempting to identify the sound that woke him. When no immediate noise reached his ears, he climbed out of bed and went across the hall to check on the boys… Piper had warned him that Chris sometimes woke up screaming. He pushed the door open a crack, just enough to see the dark and fair tufts of hair sticking out from underneath the blankets, then he gently eased it shut and returned to bed. He had just settled beneath the covers when he heard it again, louder this time. Someone was knocking.

He jumped out of bed and rushed to the front door, wary of the sleeping children in the next room. He had a bad feeling; Piper hadn't been right when she dropped the boys off. Granted, Piper had been very, very wrong since Leo's death, but she had seemed exceptionally off center that morning. He flung the door open, and then promptly stumbled back a few steps.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Hello Victor." Leo smiled tiredly, "Can I come in?"

"Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?!" He enquired loudly, his face frozen in shock as he leaned against the opened door for support.

Leo winced, "I know it's a lot to take in."

"No, not at all." Victor replied, still dazed, "I mean, my dead ex-wife and mother-in-law show up all the time, I should probably be used to it by now."

Leo shifted uneasily from foot to foot as he glanced cautiously down the hallway, "Maybe it would be best if we continued this inside?"

Victor shook his head, trying to get his thoughts in order as he stepped out of the doorway and ushered Leo inside, "Of course."

* * *

He was getting better with this magic stuff, he had to be. He understood the basic concepts of demons and elders and witches and whitelighters, but the never ending drama between his daughter and her husband made his head spin. He tried to like Leo, he really did, and he loved his grandchildren, but it just seemed as if the man spent an awful amount of time making his daughter cry. As Leo told his story – a densely edited version, Victor was sure; he never got the whole story from anyone – Victor couldn't help but think that this was no exception.

"Okay." He rubbed a hand over his tired face, "Let's see if I've got this. You really did die."

"Right." Leo nodded his head affirmatively.

"And then you were turned into a whitelighter."

"Yep."

"And then they sent you back here. Just like that."

Leo squirmed slightly in his seat, "Well, not just like that, per say… They… it's complicated. It would take a really long time to explain. And I really just want to see my boys."

Victor smiled at that, taking in the earnest, albeit anxious expression of his son-in-law. Leo loved his sons; he had to give him that much.

"You know which room is theirs. They're sleeping soundly tonight, oddly enough. Piper told me they're generally restless. You go look in on them, while I go fix myself a drink. This kind of thing is a lot for a lowly human to take in."

"Thank you." Leo breathed gratefully.

A double scotch later, Victor ambled down the hall to where Leo still hovered in the doorway.

"You can go in you know." He joked quietly, "They're your kids."

Leo shook his head firmly, "I'll wake them up. The connection between us is stronger now that I have my powers back; blood recognizes blood. Their heart rates are fluctuating just from me standing here. They need their sleep."

Victor couldn't help but be moved by the longing written clearly all over Leo's face. Despite the logical explanation, there was no doubting how badly he wanted to rush in and hold his sons. Victor clapped him awkwardly on the back, a failed attempt at comfort, and then he reached around Leo and softly pulled the door shut, ignoring the dejection on the whitelighter's face. There was still another matter to discuss.

"I take it you haven't seen Piper yet." It was a statement rather than a question, as he guided Leo back to the living room.

Leo shook his head, "I'm not quite sure where she is."

"You don't know where she is?" Victor frowned, "Isn't that what you do? Find people? Why can't you locate her the same way you did the boys?"

"Because it's not working." Leo snapped, "The Elders have done something… I don't know. I can't get more than flashes from her."

"That's just great. A bang up job of protecting her _that's_ going to help you do." Victor shot back.

Leo merely clenched his fists, obviously less than happy with the situation himself. The angry energy radiated off of him as he stared at the carpet, exposing a side to him that Victor had never actually seen before.

"That was uncalled for." He apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm just, worried about her. Nobody can yank that girl's heart around the way you can Leo."

"I'm familiar with the feeling." Leo replied ruefully.

Victor nodded, "She told me she was going to do some work at the club… I don't know if that helps you or not. You could also give Phoebe or Paige a try."

Leo didn't want to see Phoebe or Paige just yet. And unless Piper was conveniently alone in her office, he couldn't go to the club either. He had no idea what Piper had told her employees about his death. He didn't say any of these things out loud though; Victor was helping in the best way he knew how.

"Thanks Victor."

Before heading out, Leo took one last peek at Wyatt and Chris, gathering the strength he needed in order to leave them.

"I'll drop them off at the manor first thing in the morning." Victor promised from behind him, "Or I could take them out for breakfast first, if you'd like. Give you and Piper some time to talk?"

Leo nodded, "That would be perfect."

As much as he wanted the boys, alert and within his reach, he knew Piper would require time to pull herself together for them. As it was, they would probably _still_ be deep in conversation by the time Victor showed up with Wyatt and Chris. His tight grip on the doorknob turned his knuckles white as he struggled against his desire to enter the room, to brush the hair out of their eyes and kiss their foreheads, reassuring himself that all of this was reality. With no small amount of effort, he firmly shut the door, the soft click of the wood falling into place adding a note of finality.

With one last look of gratitude in Victor's direction, Leo orbed out of the apartment in search of his wife.

* * *

For the fifth time in as many minutes, Leo paused his frantic pacing across the kitchen floor long enough to glance at the clock on the microwave; the noise that came out of his throat upon seeing the time could have been categorized somewhere between a sigh and a growl. He rubbed a hand through his hair and resumed his march from the basement door to the kitchen table and back again; this was ridiculous. Only ten minutes had passed since he left Victor's, but he was in no mood to practice patience. He wanted to see his wife. Given the circumstances, he really didn't think that it was asking too much.

He had orbed into her office at P3 and found it empty, and when he had sensed for Phoebe and Paige, they had, strangely enough, been at the manor. By the time he got there however, they had already left. Assuming they had orbed quickly in and out for whatever reason, he had been reluctant to continue following their trail; whatever they were up to tonight, he had no reason to believe it had anything to do with Piper, and finding her was his first concern. He needed to see her before he saw anyone else.

Despite being in the manor less than fifteen minutes, Leo felt a cabin fever of sorts building, and he stepped into the brisk, San Francisco night in an attempt to bring some semblance of peace to his scattered emotions. As a whitelighter (the first time around) he had retreated to the top of the bridge during moments like this, but as a human, he had learned that a few minutes on the porch, in the dark with the wind blowing across his face, could, upon occasion, serve as an adequate substitute.

Except tonight.

The seemingly permanent frown that had been fixed on his face from the moment he left his boys deepened when he opened the front door; Piper's car was in the driveway… so where the hell was Piper?

"You've got to be kidding me." He laughed bitterly, collapsing onto the front steps and burying his face in his hands.

Before he had a chance to sink further into self pity, the sound of tires rolling to a stop at the end of the drive yanked him out of his reverie. The hope that perhaps Piper had taken a ride with someone else, who was now at this very second returning her home, died swiftly, as he took in the yellow cab and the body which all but fell out of it onto his front lawn.

Leo paused for a moment; it was well past two am, and hard to see, but he couldn't think of any dark haired female neighbours of that approximate size besides the sisters; the woman had to be lost… or at least on the wrong side of the street. He let out another bitter laugh, knowing that even in his concern for Piper, he couldn't very well leave the poor woman to die of hypothermia right outside his house.

He walked slowly towards the body – which he couldn't even be sure was conscious – making his footsteps as loud as possible to let her know someone was near. Not that it mattered; she didn't seem all that aware or concerned with anything going on around her. As he approached, he was greeted by waves of brown hair that seemed devastatingly familiar, and he had to forcibly push thoughts of Piper to the back of his mind as he concentrated on the woman in front of him, who hadn't so much as twitched since she landed in her ungraceful heap.

He cleared his throat, hovering awkwardly above her as he tried to think of the right way to begin this conversation. Before he could open his mouth, however, the girl suddenly sprung to life; finding her way to a hands and knees position with startling speed and retching violently.

Leo instinctively knelt beside her, "Do you know where you are?"

It was a clumsy question that sounded condescending at best, but he was past the point of calculated eloquence. She threw up again in response, and Leo reached forward with the intention of pulling back the hair that had fallen into her face, only to have her push him away with a surprising amount of force.

…and all these years, he had thought Piper to be the only one who staunchly hated any form of contact while being sick, no matter how well intentioned the gesture happened to be.

"'s my house; obviously. Why do you, why d'you always always ask me stupid questions?"

Leo's heart skipped; slurred and intoxicated as it was, he would know that voice anywhere.

"Piper?"

He tugged at her arm when she wouldn't meet his eyes, rougher than he had intended, but the urgent desire to see, for sure, that it was her, was unstoppable.

She turned reluctant, glassy eyes to his and ripped her arm out of his grasp. "Go away, Leo."

Leo felt a tiny tug at his heart… her emotions, not his. Resignation, anger, pain. What surprised him was that even with the intimate distance between them, and in her heightened emotional state, he wasn't feeling anything remotely powerful or overwhelming. The Elders had done a close to perfect job screwing with their connection.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" He asked softly.

Piper gave him a forlorn shake of her head, "You're not here." She whispered, "You never are. It's not real. I wish I could let you go."

"Honey-

"…but I can't." she sniffed. "I try, and try and try and try and try and try. 'n then I think maybe I'm getting closer… and then _you_... you come here, 'n you talk to me, and you hold me, an' it's just so much more than I can handle."

Leo pulled her flush against his chest, ignoring the way she fought him every step of the way. He sat on the dew covered grass, paying no heed to the way it soaked through his pants. He felt nothing outside of Piper's shaking body, and he drank in the scent that was distinctly her, even if it _was_ buried somewhere underneath her alcohol saturated skin.

"I'm right here, baby." He whispered back. "I'm right here with you."

He pushed her hair out of her face, his spirit soaring as he did so. He would never take this action for granted again.

Piper shrugged indifferently, "'s what you always say. I don't even care anymore. Stay, go; whatever. Doesn't matter. I'm gonna clean this mess, and I'm gonna go in my house, and I'm gonna go to sleep, and tomorrow I'm gonna pick up my boys and move on."

Her feigned apathy collapsed suddenly, and she burst into tears. Leo tried to place a comforting hand on her cheek, but she once again rejected the contact, slapping at his hand and pushing herself away from his chest.

"And we're all going to be just great." She sobbed, "Starting tomorrow. And I'm going to do it without you. If you wanna keep hanging around and making me crazy, that's fine. I'm going to ignore you. Starting tomorrow."

This time when his heart broke, it was because of his own emotions, not hers. Because there was nothing he could do to fix this, not in the state she was in now. She shivered against the cool night air and then slowly stood, teetering precariously on her impractically high heeled shoes. He stood quickly beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, ready to catch her should she take another tumble. Piper leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder and allowing him to half guide, half carry her towards the front door.

"I'm a mess." She sighed, her voice full of self loathing. "'s prolly good that this is all in my head. You would hate me."

"I could never hate you." He murmured.

"Noooo." She slurred, shaking her head back and forth in agreement, "But you say my name. You say _Piper_ in that dipsap… dispoint… that not very impressed voice. An' that's worse. 'Cause I feel like I'm three. And I hate that. I _hate_ that."

He chuckled softly, and the low rumble reverberated through his chest straight into hers, making her cry harder. Every moment like this felt real, and it was cruel. Because how could she be expected to move on when he kept doing this? How could she be expected to maintain functionality when there were all these constant, realistic reminders of exactly what it was she'd lost?

"Don't cry." Leo begged gently, turning her to face him, "Please don't cry. I promise I'll still be here in the morning."

Piper choked out a self depreciating laugh through her tears, "I'm such a mess." She repeated. "I've been good until now. Real, real good. Good girl; that's Piper. Except today. Because today was too too hard. And I know it makes me terrible. And I know if you were here, you'd tell me-

"That I love you anyway." He smiled, "That I married you, mess and all. That you're your own worst critic. That there isn't a single truly horrible thing about you… aside from that old habit of yours; when you blew me up whenever you happened to be angry. I'm admittedly hoping you're past that stage."

She let out a watery giggle, "How come it's so easy to love somebody, and hate them all at the very same time?"

"So you hate me now, huh?" Leo smirked indulgently as he resumed their slow walk toward the manor door, easily steadying Piper as a heel sank into the damp earth.

"Nope." She shook her head again, "I just wish I did. Nobody misses people they hate. Like, The Source. Do you miss The Source? Because I do not. Not even a little bit."

Piper continued her incessant babble, speaking more to herself than to Leo, leaving him to nod and make the occasional understanding noise as he tried to hold her upright and open the front door at the same time.

After a brief debate over whether it was more important for her to sleep, or get something in her stomach, he guided her into the kitchen and sat her at the table as he put on the kettle and quickly set about fixing a grilled cheese sandwich. By the time he brought her the mug and plate, she had all but fallen asleep sitting up.

"You should eat something before you go to sleep." He whispered, pushing the plate closer to her.

Piper wrinkled her nose, "I hate grilled cheese."

Leo sighed, "I know you do sweetie, but you'll thank me for this tomorrow. Trust me."

"Why would I make myself something I don't even like?" She wondered aloud, as if Leo had never spoken.

He shook his head, beyond attempting to reason with her. "Just eat it."

Piper took a few obedient nibbles before setting the piece of the sandwich back on the plate, and dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"What's so funny?" Leo smiled.

"Paige and Phoebe."

He frowned, remembering the way he had sensed them briefly just a little ways from P3, and then again at the manor. "What about Paige and Phoebe?"

"I froze them." She giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

"You what?"

"They kept trying to make me feel. And I don't want to feel today. I just want to not feel for once. To just stop feeling. And they kept talking. And talking and talking and talking. So I froze them. It's a handy power, that freezing. I wish it had worked on them years ago… I feel like that would've been helpful."

"Piper you can't just abuse-

"Oh quiet you." Piper dismissed with a wave of her hand, "Dead people don't get to lecture."

"They were here earlier. They're probably worried sick about you."

"Whatever. I'll reverse the spell tomorrow, and then everything will be just fine."

Leo groaned internally; this was the last thing they needed to deal with.

"Spell? You cast a spell?"

"Just a baby one." Piper insisted, holding her thumb and index finger a millimetre apart for effect. "Just so that they can't find me for one day. So that nobody can magically find me for a day."

He sighed. That explained everything; although, if she was protecting herself, the flashes that had entered his mind when he focused on her didn't quite make sense. Piper was powerful; more powerful than him by far, and more powerful than any other witch presently in existence, including her sisters. If she cast a cloaking spell, he shouldn't have been able to feel anything. He shook his head and then chalked it up to her inebriated condition. Her spell must have been flawed… the wording could be difficult enough sober at times, he didn't want to think about the many, many potential ways drunken spell casting could have gone wrong. He made a mental note to find Phoebe and Paige as soon as he put Piper to bed.

She sipped the tea slowly, pushing the sandwich around on her plate with complete disinterest, doing her best to ignore Leo; who couldn't seem to keep himself from touching her. This skin; he knew this skin, he knew its warmth, its unnatural softness. He knew the delicate fingers that curled around the mug, drawing its heat. He knew their touch, the way they traced patterns across his bare chest in the early mornings when she thought he was still asleep, the way they fluttered over his face and across his mouth when she awoke from a nightmare and silently reassured herself that he hadn't left her. Every tilt of the head, every squint of the eyes, he knew them all. And he had missed each one of them.

By the time the mug was empty, she had only finished half of the diagonally sliced sandwich; he considered this victory enough. She sat docilely as he cleared the dishes, but by the time he turned around after washing them and placing them in the draining bin, she had fallen fast asleep.

Leo gathered her carefully in his arms and effortlessly lifted her from the chair. He walked halfway across the kitchen before he turned back toward the counter, glancing at the pitcher of water he had abandoned when he heard Piper's tired head thump against the tabletop. Torn between the water on the counter, and his wife in his arms, Leo gazed from one to the other before rolling his eyes and shifting his grip on Piper just long enough to wave his hand at the pitcher, sending it to their bedside table. One hour as a whitelighter, and he was already breaking the rules for her again.

He helped her brush her teeth and undress when they reached their bedroom, and she grabbed his wrist as he tugged the comforter under her chin, pulling him down to the mattress beside her.

"I love you." She whispered, a tiny smile gracing her lips as she struggled to keep her eyes open, "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He returned, brushing a gentle kiss against her forehead. "Sleep."

"I'm going to be okay." She murmured, her eyelids already drifting shut, "I'm going to miss you every single day, but I'll be good. For our boys. You'll see. Someday I'm going to stop seeing you everywhere I look; and you won't need to keep an eye on me anymore."

She was fast asleep before he could reply, so he settled for running a hand through her chocolate coloured locks until he could bring himself to pull away from her. The thought of Phoebe and Paige, turning the city upside down looking for their sister, was the only thing that prevented him from crawling into bed beside her where he belonged.

When he finally left the bedroom he closed the door softly behind him, running quietly down the stairs, into the parlour, and smack into Paige and Phoebe as they orbed directly in his path.

Following her initial shriek of surprise, Phoebe's reaction was instant; she grabbed the fire poker from its rack and deftly rammed the tool through Leo's heart, leaving him to fall to the ground in agony, gasping in pain as he slowly drew the sharp implement out of his body.

Son of a bitch had he ever forgotten how much that hurt.

He pulled the instrument free from his chest and leaned back against the couch, spent and panting heavily as he waited for the injury to heal itself.

"Damn it, Phoebe." He breathed, irritated. Why did it seem that their reflexes could only be this fast when it turned out to _not_ be a demon?

"Leo?!"

Paige and Phoebe watched, open mouthed, as the wound glowed and disappeared within a matter of seconds.

"It's nice to see you too." He joked wryly.

Leo began to stand back on his feet, and the motion jarred Phoebe and Paige out of their shock. They rushed forward to help pull him upright, and then promptly knocked him back over into the deep cushions of the sofa as they threw their arms around his neck.

He laughed as the steady stream of questions began pouring out of the two women on either side of him. They sent you back? Are you an Elder or a whitelighter now? Where have you been? How long does it take to make someone not human? Do you get to stay? Does this mean you're ours again? Is there an ulterior motive behind their decision? Are we going to have to fight Them? Have you talked to Piper? Do you know where she is?

After assuring them that Piper was upstairs, fast asleep, and no worse for wear save for the killer hangover she would most likely be nursing tomorrow, Leo brought them up to speed. He relayed his experience trapped Up There, his initial refusal to return to earth, followed by the eventual compromise fashioned by Sandra. The intent expressions of Phoebe and Paige tightened slightly at the female elder's name; consequently, the mention of Odin's less than diplomatic commentary brought deep scowls to their faces, and they took a moment to sulk with the realization that he would once again be a part of their lives.

By the time Leo finished the three of them had moved to the kitchen, where Leo refilled the kettle and set it to boil while Paige and Phoebe filled him in on their side of the events following his death.

"How has she been?" Leo inquired softly, setting the mugs down on the table and going to the fridge for the milk.

Phoebe shrugged while Paige rolled her eyes.

"You remember Piper-light?" Paige asked. Upon Leo's nod, she continued, "Well, she's back in full form."

"Paige." Phoebe chastised.

Paige shrugged, and Phoebe leaned across the table to place a comforting hand over Leo's.

"Wyatt and Chris slept in your room with her the first night; Chris had a few nightmares… I woke up when he screamed and went to see if she wanted any help, but she told me she had everything under control."

Paige snorted, and then stared innocently into her tea when Phoebe shot her one last warning glare. Turning her attention back to Leo, Phoebe continued.

"Piper spent all of the next day with the boys, talking to them, avoiding us, and then she locked herself in her room the entire day after. When she came out, she was-

"Piper-light." Paige chirped.

Phoebe rolled her eyes, "Piper-light." She conceded. "You know how she works Leo; she compartmentalizes until she has a meltdown… she was absolutely functional until today. I think filing a missing person report on you to avoid drawing suspicion over your mysterious disappearance was just a little more than she could take so soon."

Leo accepted this with a solemn nod; yes, he was well familiar with the coping mechanisms of Piper Halliwell. At the same time however, he couldn't help but think back to the confidence behind her exhausted words; _I'm going to be okay…I'll miss you every day, but I'll be good._ It was a direct contrast to her self-destructive alcohol binge… a direct contrast to her reaction to Prue's death as well. It indicated a resigned acceptance he had never seen in her before. The Piper he knew didn't know how to accept a situation that didn't satisfy her… no matter how out of her control it happened to be. Not until she had run head first into the proverbial brick wall more than once. But then again, she hadn't been responsible for two young children when Prue had died; maybe the last part of Piper Halliwell had grown up, having been forced to learn that an unfair sacrifice with parenthood is that one is no longer free to completely fall apart.

When he mentioned her last words, Paige gave him a wry smile.

"When I was a kid, I used to have this intense fear of thunderstorms." She began shyly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat with the talk of the childhood she so often kept to herself. "It was the lightning, more than anything. I hated the thought of being electrocuted. My mom was in the shower once when a storm hit and I completely freaked out on her, I was so angry with her for being careless and practically begging to get struck down."

She placed air quotes around the phrase, 'struck down,' and gave an embarrassed laugh. "I was _such_ a loser. Anyway, I have a point. I swear I do."

"I was beginning to wonder." Phoebe quipped playfully.

"Quiet missy. Anyway, in high school shop class, we were screwing around with electrical circuits, and I wasn't paying attention – that was kind of my thing back then – and I snatched up this piece we were working on without realizing that it was _apparently_ very important for us to hold it by the rubber insulated bottom, not the sides. I totally fried my arm. Swear to God. My whole right arm went numb, and I didn't get full control of my fingers back until late that night. And I realized later on, that if I had held that piece with both hands, I would have completed the circuit, and probably seriously injured myself. So not cool. But I was never afraid of thunderstorms after that day."

Phoebe knitted her eyebrows in confusion, "And this relates to Piper… how?"

"Control." Leo smiled ruefully, "Paige's fear was based upon something over which she had no real control, and despite attempts to ensure safety, to keep control, it was only after she lost it that she was able to get past the irrational hold her fear had on her. Piper fears happiness because she doesn't believe it lasts; she sees it as a precedent to loss, and then afterwards, she views those losses as preventable."

Phoebe tilted her head, indicating her continued state of confusion, and Leo leaned forward, continuing his explanation in the same, resigned tone.

"Your parents divorced; Patty said that Piper used to have night terrors over it. She lost her parents, and couldn't help but thinking that if she had been… better, somehow, she could have kept the family together. Prue died, and at the time, she was still under the impression that she was the Charmed Ones' weak link; again, if she had been better, somehow, she could have saved Prue. When the Angel of Destiny took me, there was the belief that, yet again, if she had been better, they would have trusted her ability to win the Ultimate Battle without using my return as incentive."

"Your death wasn't her fault." Phoebe jumped in, finally making the connection, "Even she had to accept that; for the sake of the boys if nothing else. It was entirely outside of her control. She's not the person that she used to be; she doesn't see herself as weak anymore… not that she ever was. But if, in her mind, there was nothing she could do, nothing she should have done differently, 'better,' then she had no choice but to accept what happened. To accept that in the future, things are going to continue happening, or not happening, despite what she does to try and manipulate things her way."

"Took you long enough." Paige said, rolling her eyes, "Thanks for spelling it out for the rest of us… who caught on five minutes ago."

"You are so not being helpful right now."

Leo grinned; all of the night's tension dissipating with the easy, familiar banter of his family. It only took the sound of their voices to assure him that everything would indeed be okay. That he could take a moment and breathe.

Feeling suddenly lighter of heart, he picked up his empty mug and walked over to the sink. "I think I'm going to turn in. Are you two staying or going?"

"Staying." Phoebe instantly replied. "Are you kidding me? I need to see everything that happens once she wakes up. Well… maybe not _everything_… ew."

Leo blushed, but was saved from further embarrassment by Paige.

"I'll stay too. She'll be in need of my hangover expertise. Besides, now that you're here, we can have some fun with her over some of the less than kind comments she threw in our direction this evening."

I'm just happy I didn't get frozen this time. Although I heard you two weren't so lucky."

Paige rolled her eyes, "I think I liked her better when her powers didn't work on us."

"Welcome to my world." Leo returned, somewhat entertained by the thought of everyone else suffering alongside him. "I'll see you in the morning."

He took his time climbing the stairs, observing every picture on the wall, every creaky step. The last time he had walked these halls, the walls had barely been standing; even without him, Piper had managed to restore this place back to its expected magnificence. He wouldn't have dreamed her capable of anything less.

He pushed open the door to the master bedroom and eased it shut just as gently when she squirmed across the sheets. The drawers were the same as they had always been… his clothes to the left, hers to the right; everything just the way it had over a month ago, on the last evening he had pulled them open. She would have studiously ignored "his" side of the dresser, he was sure. No matter how many times a day she was forced to go in and out of her own, not once would she have allowed her gaze to shift over. Piper-light was a force to be reckoned with.

When he crawled into bed beside her he pulled her against him; it was self-centred, he knew, but he had to touch her. He wouldn't sleep tonight, he was almost sure of it, and until she regained consciousness, until she was alert and expressive and certain this was reality, he would have to settle for the feel of her skin against his.

He sensed the exact moment her heart rate changed; the exact moment she slipped from sleep, back to the bedroom with him. And so he was not surprised when she flipped over and stared curiously into his eyes. She was still under the effects of the alcohol, that was a certainty, but at least her eyes seemed more focused… more aware. The food, as little as she had eaten, and the tea were obviously taking effect.

"You need to go."

Her voice was a soft whisper against his skin, and he shivered, overcome with gratitude for the chance to live all this again.

"Sleep." He whispered back, "I'll be here when you wake up."

"You can't." She murmured sadly, "You have to go. I'm going to let you go. Why am I still seeing you everywhere? What am I doing wrong?"

He pulled her close, savouring everything that was good and familiar about her body touching his own.

"You aren't doing anything wrong honey." He assured, "You're perfect."

She nuzzled her face into his cotton t-shirt, and then placed a slow, unexpected kiss at the base of his throat. "You're so beautiful."

The slur was slight, barely perceptible. With each syllable she sounded more and more like his wife, and the love he felt for her grew so fierce that for a moment he thought it might swallow him whole. Had it always been this intense between them? But he couldn't think about that, because she was speaking again and he wanted to hold on to every word.

"I loved you so much. And I was so, _so _scared to tell you sometimes. I shouldn't have been. I should have told you every day. Every minute."

He swallowed and squeezed her tighter, hoping his actions could project a reassurance his words didn't seem capable of at the moment. Intoxicated or not, he couldn't be happier to be holding her again. Their bedroom. Their bed. Their comforter. All these things were his, and hers. Together.

"This is my last night, right?"

The question came out of left field, and Leo was instantly reminded of Chris. There was no questioning where the younger child acquired that particular trait.

"Your last night for what?"

"For _this_." She gestured impatiently, revealing to him a flash of his Piper. "For missing you and drowning in self-pity… after tonight, even if I see you, I just have to pretend I don't until you stop coming. Right?"

"Piper-

"So, because tonight is all about doing what Piper wants; what's best for Piper, and not Wyatt, or Chris, or Phoebe, or Paige, or dad, or anyone else I forgot… it's okay for me to want you here. Until the morning, anyway. Right?"

"I think that's fair." He humoured.

"Make love to me."

Her words were enunciated clearly and Leo slowly exhaled, too selfish to let her go, but at the same time aware that he was only going to make tonight harder for both of them with every moment he held her.

"You need to sleep." He changed the subject gently.

"Are you rejecting me?" She frowned.

This evoked a genuine laugh from Leo, absolving a fraction of the new tension. "No. Never. I just think we should maybe wait for a day when you haven't drank your own club dry."

"Come on." She giggled, "It's not like it would be the first time."

He grinned in return, because he knew exactly what she was thinking about. That last anniversary. That night, with one glass of wine too many and a frisky cab ride home more suitable to a teenage couple than full grown adults with two children. That night they hadn't even made it to their bedroom, deciding the stairs were as good a place as any after Leo tripped for the second time on their way up. He had left her on top, mindful of the rough carpeting beneath them; and giddy as they had been, in the end, Piper had cried from the simple joy of them being.

Already, it seemed like a lifetime ago. In a way, he supposed, for him it was.

"I don't care how screwed up it is." She said, serious now. "I don't care if this is real, or made up in my head; I don't care if this is a dream, or a hallucination, or you visiting as a ghost, or me wide awake and having this entire conversation with myself… I don't care. I'm so turned around, I don't even know what's up and what's down. I just want this; regardless of how twisted it becomes when you think about it too hard. I just want to feel something besides what I've been feeling. I want to feel what we've always had, and I don't care about anything else. Make love to me."

Leo's millisecond of hesitation was all the answer Piper needed. She lifted her head from his shoulder and placed a soft kiss on the underside of his chin, then she pulled the tank top he had struggled to put on her barely an hour ago up and over her head.

And then, there was true slow motion. That was the only term to describe the way things progressed. Her languid movements made sense, considering the liquor; he didn't know what _his_ excuse was. He felt as if they were both moving through a fog… maybe underwater… he couldn't decide. But her feather light touches on his stomach as she clumsily removed his shirt made every muscle contract, and the familiar shock ran through him when he stretched out an arm to steady her as she shed her panties.

She climbed back onto the bed, where she lay down on her back and stared up at him in wonder.

"You're beautiful." She repeated.

"You said that." He smiled.

"Come here." She beckoned softly.

Leo pulled off the rest of his clothes and lay on his stomach beside her, his fingers drifting to her face on their own accord. Slowly, rhythmically, his hands continued their journey south, pausing to trace each bone and arch, acquainting himself with the curves that were ever so slightly different from the last time he had done this.

"You haven't been eating."

It was a statement, not a question, and Piper dropped her gaze away from his without bothering with a denial. She slid a hand to where his own covered her stomach and twisted their fingers together, suddenly very interested in the lines of his palm.

"You have to take care of yourself." He chastised tenderly.

"I know. I will." She promised.

The words were empty, because her attention could no longer be held by anything he had to say, and she would have said anything, agreed to anything, to get him to stop talking. She gave his hand one final squeeze before pulling away, freeing her own hands to gently finger his soft, dirty blond hair.

"I used to play with your hair while you were sleeping." She confessed.

"I know." He responded quietly.

"I've heard you sing to the boys." She added, her mouth so close to his, he could feel the warmth of her breath with every word. "You have a nice voice… you shouldn't be embarrassed. I never told you."

"We can pretend you never brought that up." Leo suggested.

"Sometimes –

He moved the half inch forward and pressed his lips against hers, effectively ending her confession.

Their lives were marked of a series of strange, and not so strange, first kisses; Their technical first kiss – the one he only knew about because she sheepishly brought it up one day, years after the fact. Their first kiss he remembered. Their first kiss as a married couple. Their first kiss as parents. Their first last kiss; Up There, just before he returned her to Earth after becoming an elder. Their second first kiss; hungry and desperate and full of longing out on the ghost plane. Their first reunited kiss; warm and full of gratitude, after the avatars when there was nothing left to keep him away from home; to keep him from where he belonged with her. Their first mortal kiss. Their third first kiss; tentative and unsure, yet comforting and right at the same time, when the Angel first returned him.

Each memory stuck with him, stored in a special, rare place that he could reach whenever he desired… a memory free from the general wear and decomposition time beat on even the sunniest of things past. Their fourth first kiss was no different. Her mouth, open and eager and trusting of this dream-Leo she was so certain would vanish, was an unclassifiable combination of mint toothpaste and alcohol, and the moment was forever captured within Leo's mind. God, he didn't know words in _any _language that could convey how much he had missed her.

They moved together, still stuck at that lethargic pace, until her legs wrapped around his waist, and the reality of the situation finally came home for Leo; he was _back_. He was with Piper. Everything else seemed of little consequence next to those two things. He didn't need to fight anymore. He was with her, and she was with him, and they had the rest of their lives for gentle. They had the rest of their lives for tantalizing and slow. He could relax and simply let his body and Piper's do what had always come so naturally to them, even when they themselves were mentally falling to pieces.

In the next moment, they were frantic; a tangled mess of hands and knees and limbs and bodies and soft hair. Here was the dance they had always done well. He was home, and for the first time in over a month, so was she.

He watched her face carefully as their bodies found their rhythm, searching for signs of distress; searching for signs of the panic that had taken hold the first few times they had made love after the Angel of Destiny brought him back, and the fear that had taken hold of her every so often ever since. He was ready to comfort her, to wipe away her tears and reassure her that everything had ultimately turned out okay; just as it always did where they were concerned. But this time, Piper was different. This time, when they came – her just before him – Piper didn't cry. This time, Piper smiled. Piper smiled, and whispered thank-you. And then Piper finally fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_And I'm still waiting for the rain to fall;  
pour real life down on me.  
'Cause I can't hold on to anything this good enough,  
am I good enough for you to love me too?  
__**Good Enough**_**, **_Evanescence_

The blinds were open, and the light hurt like a bitch. Piper groaned and lifted a leaden arm to shield herself from the bright rays, whimpering pathetically as the sharp pain in her head was the next ailment to register.

She was pretty sure she was dying.

She stiffened beneath the sheets when she felt the rush of saliva into her mouth that indicated she was moments away from throwing up. Instead of heading for the bathroom, however, she forced a few, stubborn deep breaths; she hadn't thrown up because of a hangover since college, and she had no intention of breaking that record today.

Piper opened her eyes for the first time and saw the pitcher of water sitting on the nightstand; water. What a beautiful, _beautiful _thing. Sitting up slowly, she cradled her head in one hand, and poured some of the contents into the empty glass sitting beside it with the other, struggling to keep the trembling in her aching muscles to a minimum.

The cool water slipped down her throat, taking the disgusting, sticky film that had filled her mouth with it. What she wouldn't do for Paige's powers; what she wouldn't do for the ability to simply call her toothbrush to her hand, so that she didn't ever have to leave this bed. As she set the glass back on its coaster, her stomach lurched again, but this time, it wasn't because of her unfortunate hangover.

Leo.

Despite her efforts to keep everything of his contained to drawers and unopened boxes in closets, despite throwing away every sheet, comforter, pillow and towel he had ever used, his scent was everywhere. Now that she was aware of it, it was all she could smell in the room.

She really was losing her mind.

She pulled the blanket off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, deciding that the bitter taste of yesterday's alcohol in her mouth was actually worse than the headache, and she promptly froze when she noticed, for the first time, that she was wearing one of Leo's oversized t-shirts. One of Leo's t-shirts, and nothing else.

Panicked, she began pulling it free of her body. It was smothering her. He was smothering her. She could see from where she sat on the bed that his side of the dresser had been disturbed… what could have possibly possessed her to open those drawers? She frowned, shirt half on, half off, as she realized there were a lot of gaps in her memories of the night before. The last thing she clearly remembered was being in her office at the club… from there, it was mainly incoherent snatches of partial images. She remembered dancing… she remembered a man, maybe more than one, and Phoebe. She remembered being mad at Phoebe… then a cab… then…

Piper abruptly tilted her head to the side, almost certain that she had heard breathing outside of her own. She held her breath and waited… one second… two seconds… three seconds… and then there it was. A slow, even inhale from somewhere else on the mattress. Her instinctive reaction was to whip her head around and look for a face, but she fought against it. She fought against it, and she brushed frantically at the tears suddenly burning her eyes. She didn't want to see. She didn't want to ever close her eyes and see a face aside from Leo's next to her in this bed. She would call Phoebe and Paige, and she would apologize for whatever horrible things she was sure she had said to them, and she would beg them to kick this stranger out so that she would never have to look at him. So that the memory of her, tainting the bedroom she had only ever shared with her husband, could remain a vague, distorted, faceless mess. So that she would only see Leo's face when she cried from the guilt and shame of it all instead of _his_, because she didn't think she could live with herself otherwise.

She tugged the shirt back down over her body, unwilling to spend a moment longer in this room with _him_ in it while she searched for something else to wear, and then she bolted for the door as quietly as she could manage, without turning back once.

"Paige." She hissed as she moved nimbly down the hallway, ignoring the harsh pounding in her head. She deserved this hangover. She deserved it, and so much more.

"Paige, I need you."

Paige didn't respond… whether she didn't hear her, or she was pissed off and ignoring her, Piper didn't know. The only thing she _did_ know, was that with each second she stood pacing in this hallway, the person in her bedroom was one second closer to waking up.

"Paige!" She whispered loudly, not even bothering to try and mask the blatant desperation in her tone. "Whatever I did last night, I'm sorry. But I need you. Please."

She shrieked and then clapped a hand over her mouth when the door to the spare room beside her opened, and a dishevelled Paige appeared, her eyes still half closed. Phoebe was close behind her.

"What's wrong?" Paige muttered.

"What's…" Piper began to repeat in disbelief. She shook her head, her sisters were _here_? They were here, and they had let her… she glanced warily behind her in the direction of her bedroom, and then firmly took hold of her sisters' wrists and pulled them back into the spare room.

"How long have you been here?" She asked as she silently pushed the door shut.

Phoebe and Paige exchanged confused glances, "Last night." Phoebe answered. "I couldn't sleep, so I came in here to talk to Paige for a bit and we must have both passed out."

"Did you see him?"

"We sure did." Paige grinned, "Right in the middle of us chasing your drunk ass all over San Francisco. It was quite a shock, let me tell you."

Both sisters were floored when Piper suddenly burst into tears and hugged herself protectively.

"Honey, what's the matter?"

Phoebe managed to recover her voice just before Paige did, and when Piper only cried harder, she was completely clueless. These weren't happy tears, or even overwhelmed tears… Piper was distraught.

"I'm not wearing any underwear." She sobbed. "I barely remember; I remember thinking he was, I thought that he was… how can you laugh about what I did?"

When she and Leo had separated, they had practically forced her to date. But this was something else entirely. She and Leo weren't separated; Leo was dead. Leo was dead, and if they thought that this was helping, then her sisters apparently didn't know her at all.

"I didn't mean to upset you, honey." Paige comforted sincerely, "I thought you would be happy."

"Well I'm not." She spat rabidly, "Get him out. I want him out of my house."

"Wait." Phoebe frowned, "Piper, I don't think we're on the same page you are. Who are you talking about?"

"Who am I talking about?" She repeated angrily, then, mindful of the man sleeping down the hall, she lowered her voice to a fierce whisper, "I'm talking about the total stranger _you_ two let me bring home and _fuck_ yesterday!"

Understanding dawned on the younger sisters, and Phoebe immediately began to laugh in spite of herself, although she quickly covered it up, recognizing this as anything but humorous for Piper.

"You guys had sex last night?" Paige mused absently, "You two sure don't waste any time, do you?"

"Paige, I will kick your ass." Piper threatened. Her face was still tinged pink from the tears, but her voice reflected nothing but rage. "You fix this. Fix it now."

"I'm sorry," Paige retorted, "but it's really difficult to take you seriously when you're standing in front of me, barefoot, wearing nothing but an old t-shirt of your husband's. Commando; if I may add."

"You really have no idea, do you?" Phoebe smiled.

Piper paused, glancing between Phoebe and Paige with uncertainty. If things stood the way she believed they did, then it would be undeniably cruel for her sisters to be mocking her. And her sisters, annoying as they often were, could not ever be classified as cruel. Therefore, logically, it stood to reason that there was something she was missing. A piece of the puzzle that, in her early morning, dreadfully hungover panic, she had overlooked.

"What's going on?" She asked suspiciously.

As if on cue, the door began to move, and she childishly jumped to the side so that she would be safely hidden behind it when it opened.

"What's wrong?" The gravelly, sleep filled voice caused a pounding in her heart that rivalled the pounding in her head. "Where's Piper? Why's she so upset?"

She gingerly peered around the door, and couldn't muster a reaction other than total silence when she saw the strong, bare back of her husband.

"Nothing." Paige said casually, "Apparently, your wife got laid last night."

Phoebe snorted, and Leo dropped his offensive stance, tilting his head in confusion, "What?"

Phoebe nodded her head in Piper's direction, "We're just going to go downstairs and wait for Piper to make us breakfast."

Leo moved away from the door, allowing them to pass, and then he slowly shut it behind them.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"I wish I knew." She replied, dazed.

It was different this time; when the Angel of Destiny had returned him, the first time, her mind had already been racing with possible ways to bring back her sisters. She hadn't had any space left to process the emotional aspect to the return of her long absent husband. In order to function, she had been forced to behave as if he had never left, because, while she was capable of multi-tasking, it would have been insane trying to deal with more than one emotional crisis of that magnitude at a time. Saving Phoebe and Paige had taken precedent, and once he was returned for good, she had already had time to prepare herself for the exact moment he would come back to her. She had run the scenario countless times in her head, and she had held on to the image of the two of them playing scrabble as if her life depended on it, keeping herself from freaking out by reassuring herself that she had seen proof it would all work out in the end.

As she watched Leo watch her, the emotional overload prevented her from reacting in any form whatsoever. Her mind was racing with incomplete thoughts, incomplete plans of action, and she stood frozen, unable to focus on any of them long enough to carry them out.

She wanted to touch him; she wanted to place her hands over his face, and remember his skin, so that she could figure out exactly how much of last night was a dream, and how much was reality. She wanted to ask him about last night; she wanted to hear his voice reassure her that she hadn't done anything wrong, that it was okay that she remembered enjoying their time together, because _he_ had been the one there, not some nameless, faceless stranger, and he had enjoyed it too. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck and laugh at the absolute incredibility of the situation. She wanted to make an easy, off the cuff wisecrack that would let him know he didn't have to hover five feet away from her, unsure of her state of mind, waiting for her to make the first move. She wanted to let him know that she wasn't going to fall to pieces. The one thing Piper was certain she _didn't_ want to do, was cry. She had done enough of that to last her a lifetime.

Then, an image from last night came unbidden to the front of her mind; tea. She had drank tea last night, fixed exactly the way she liked it. And a grilled cheese sandwich; even though she despised the taste of cheese slices and bought them strictly for the boys.

"You cooked for me." She smiled.

His posture relaxed, and he smiled back at her; the megawatt grin that melted her heart each and every time.

"You hated it." He answered.

Her mind cleared, and then stepping toward him and putting her arms around his neck, pulling him close, was easy. It was right. She was reminded that, when it came to Leo, she didn't have to think at all. She could just react. She could just be. The rest would always follow.

"I woke up and panicked." She laughed self consciously, "I heard you breathing, and I realized last night couldn't have been a dream, but it also couldn't have been you…"

He frowned and held her tighter. "I'm sorry." He apologized, "I knew it was a bad idea. I shouldn't have –

"No." she cut in, "I'm glad it happened."

"Still, you were…"

"Tanked?" She finished for him with a smile.

He shrugged, and she laughed again, then collapsed on the bed, waiting for him to follow suit. When he sat beside her, she drew her knees into her chest and placed her head on his shoulder, already adjusting to one of her favourite positions as if she had never been forced to go without it.

"I'm sorry that was your first impression of me to come back to. I promise; I haven't been indulging in semi-suicidal binges the _entire_ time you've been gone."

He chuckled and placed a kiss on the top of her head, "I gathered as much, talking to Phoebe and Paige."

She sat in his embrace, stunned, yet content, and Leo couldn't help but wonder where the barrage of questions were. She seemed happy and together; neither of which were words he would have used to describe her last night… or this morning, based upon the way things had sounded between her and her sisters before he entered the room.

"Aren't you going to ask how this happened?"

"I don't care." She murmured softly. "I don't care at all. You're here, and nothing else matters. I really thought I lost you this time; I didn't think you were coming back."

"How's your head feeling?"

"Terrible." She answered honestly, "Like I'm going to be dizzy for the rest of my life, but I've never felt better."

"I'm sure Paige can fix you something to help."

She shook her head slowly, wary of rapid motion, "That's okay. I'm good here with you."

She was quiet a moment, and he could feel her thoughts beginning to race.

"What are you thinking about?"

"About how much I want to kiss you." She squirmed, "And how badly I need to brush my teeth before I try and do that."

He laughed, and offered her his hand as he stood up, "Come on."

* * *

They moved around one another in their bathroom in complete synchronization; it would have taken a lot longer than a month to undo nearly ten years of live-in habit. The first thing Piper did was swallow a few Advil from the medicine cabinet; then she washed her face. By the time she had brushed her teeth and rinsed out her mouth – not to mention, taken care of her lack of underwear/pants – she found the aches in her head and muscles had settled to a dull roar. Free – more or less – from her horrific hangover, and coming to the end of an extremely emotional few weeks, she was left manic spirited.

"Piper, come on; give it back."

He tried to feign an authoritative tone, but it was a lost cause. He couldn't keep the grin off his face as she bit her lip, pretending to consider his request, only to dart around his outstretched hand and place a well aimed squirt of the shaving cream directly into his ear.

Leo's look of amusement quickly turned to one of distaste, "That's disgusting."

She grinned and placed an unapologetic kiss on his cheek, transferring some of the foam to her own skin in the process.

"Isn't it? Phoebe used to do that all the time when we were kids. She usually left me alone; she always got more out of a reaction from Prue. And you know Phoebe, she loves getting a good reaction."

He shook his head in disbelief, "Seriously, if Wyatt and Chris end up being half as bad as you and your sisters were, I don't know how I'm going to survive."

"I figure that if Grams used spells, so can we."

"Piper –

"I'm kidding!" she raised her hands in surrender, "I promise, I was kidding."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed a towel, trying in vain to force out the last of the cream. "Gross." He muttered.

She laughed again, and then pulled his face down to hers, revelling in the spark of pleasure that ran through her body when their lips touched. She continued to stare into his eyes as he pulled away, pursing her lips together as she debated on whether or not she was willing to risk corrupting the purity of this moment with questions. She swallowed and cleared her throat, because it had to be discussed sooner or later, and she wanted everything in the open. She didn't want anything nagging at the back of her mind, spoiling her new beginning. She had, after all, vowed to make a fresh start today, and this was going to be part of it.

"You have your powers back, don't you?" She asked softly, although she was certain she already knew the answer.

He paused, and then put down the towel and leaned against the sink. "Yeah."

She nodded her acceptance. "Elder, or Whitelighter?"

"Whitelighter." He answered. "How did you know?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense." She shrugged, "And I can feel it, even just standing here. I can't explain it, but it's different somehow… _we're_ different. Charged."

"The rules are going to be a little different this time."

"We don't have to talk about it now; I just wanted to know."

"Are you okay with it?"

"Are you?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

There was a moment's hesitation, and then he smiled, "Yeah."

"Then I am too."

He kissed her again, and she let the shaving cream canister clatter to the floor as she draped her arms over his shoulders. Before things could progress, there was a loud pounding on the door.

"Are you guys naked?" Phoebe yelled from the other side.

"Phoebe!" Piper shouted back indignantly.

Phoebe pushed the door open a crack, and then seeing them fully clothed, pushed it open entirely and stepped inside.

"Hey." She greeted sheepishly.

"Hi Phoebe." Leo smiled.

"What do you want?"

"We're hungry." Phoebe whined, "I wasn't kidding when I said we wanted breakfast; it's been a half hour, Piper."

"Don't be ridiculous; what, it's been so long since you lived here, you've forgotten where the fridge is?"

"Listen, you owe me missy." Phoebe said, feigning hurt and pointing an accusatory finger at her older sister, "I couldn't count the number of four and five letter words you called me last night using both hands."

"You would think you'd be used to it." Piper quipped, her mouth quirked upwards on one side in her signature half smile.

Phoebe flicked Piper's arm, and grinned victoriously when she yelped in pain.

"Breakfast. Five minutes. Or else us inmates are going to start rioting."

Piper rubbed the red spot on her forearm and glared as her sister danced out of the bathroom without bothering to close the door behind her.

"I'll show you breakfast!" She called.

"She can't hear you, Piper."

"Yeah well, it made me feel better."

She took a drink from the plastic cup resting on the sink, and coughed in surprise when Leo tapped the underside of it and caused her to spill water all over herself, and the floor.

"I can't believe you just did that." She sputtered.

"What can I say? You bring out the eight year old in me." he smirked.

She put her hands on her hips when she realized he was no longer staring at her face, but rather, leering openly at her now see-through t-shirt.

"Real mature, Leo."

"I'll show you mature." He mocked.

She giggled as he kissed her neck and began tugging the damp shirt over her head.

Phoebe was going to be pissed.

* * *

He loved watching her in the kitchen: as she fluttered gracefully between the cabinets, he was shocked by the realization that this had not once come up on his list of things he missed about her while Up There. When she cooked her whole face lit up from the inside, and there was an entirely different air of confidence about her, a calm that was rarely present anywhere else. She seemed… free.

Today was no different. Paige yelped indignantly as Piper slapped the top of her hand away from the croissants cooling on the counter, and then less than a minute later, she repeated the action with Phoebe.

"Oh, my, God; Get out." She said each word slowly and put forth the most menacing face she could muster; Leo thought it would have probably been more effective had she not been smiling with her eyes the entire time. Phoebe and Paige must have come to the same conclusion, because they burst out laughing and continued to tease her in a way they _should_ have been far too old for.

"I mean it." The smile had reached Piper's mouth now in addition to her eyes, but she shooed them toward the door regardless. "I can never get anything done with you two in here. Go."

"Way to go Pheebs, you pissed off our chef."

"Piper, Paige just orbed a muffin. I saw her!" Phoebe tattled.

"Out!"

Phoebe and Paige winked at him as they giddily ran past, and he picked up the plastic measuring cup Piper had hurled in their direction.

He dropped the cup in the sink and then leaned against the counter in that _one_ spot he had managed to find in their years together, where he could observe while successfully keeping out of her way over ninety percent of the time.

She shot him a look that clearly warned him he'd be tossed out with her sisters if he made a wrong move, and he laughed.

"I know better; believe me. It hasn't been that long."

She continued to smile as she removed the last of the bacon from the frying pan and turned off the burner, and then she jumped into his arms so unexpectedly he barely managed to catch her. She rested her knees on the countertop for support and caught his earlobe lightly between her teeth.

"I was thinking we could go upstairs and make the most of the ten minutes we've got before dad shows up."

He looked as if he were about to respond, and then he hesitated, listening carefully to something she couldn't hear. "As much as I'd love to, your father just turned onto Morningside. He's going to be in the driveway in about two minutes."

"We could still make it work." She whispered temptingly against his ear.

"No." He laughed. "I'm on shaky ground with him as it is."

"How is that even possible?" She frowned, "You've been back less than twenty four hours."

"I went to check on the boys before coming here. I couldn't exactly find you due to your little spell."

"Oh yeah." She gave an embarrassed laugh, "I forgot about that."

He nudged her knees off the counter and she dropped lightly to the floor. Instead of walking away, however, Piper kept her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her level for a heated kiss.

"Ninety seconds." Leo murmured against her lips.

He felt the exasperated growl from her throat just as well as he heard it, and the grip around his neck tightened.

"seventy five." He muttered, but as one of her wandering hands cupped him intimately through his jeans, his own hands reflexively gripped her waist and pulled her hips into his; and then he couldn't even begin to remember why not doing what they were doing had seemed so important.

* * *

Wyatt scanned the buildings outside his window and pretended he didn't notice Chris staring at him in the next seat. Then he tried to ignore the small pain in his head he sometimes got when Chris tried really hard to get his attention without talking, and he didn't want to listen. Finally, he gave up all pretenses of being enraptured by the scenery, and he turned his head toward his brother.

"Stop it." He snapped.

"I just wanted to ask a question."

"You _always_ want to ask a question. Just be quiet."

When the car went around the next corner, the box of tissue sitting behind their heads suddenly flew forward and hit Wyatt in the ear.

"Ow! Grandpa, Chris just hit me with the Kleenex box!"

"No I didn't." Chris claimed innocently. "I can't even reach it from here, Grandpa."

Victor looked in the rear-view mirror and sighed, "Wyatt, I took that last corner a little too quickly, it wasn't Chris' fault."

Wyatt glared at Chris, who had, coincidentally, at last decided to stop staring at him, and was now gazing intently out his own window. Only Wyatt could see the smug smile on his younger brother's face, and he folded his arms and sat sulkily against the seat. He knew, he _knew_ that Chris had used his magic to make the box hit him. Mom could always tell when Chris wasn't telling the whole truth, but Grandpa never remembered how good Chris was at using his power. Grandpa never seemed to remember Chris had powers at all.

"I hate you." He muttered.

Chris turned away from the window. "Grandpa, Wyatt said 'hate,' and mom says that hate's a strong word and that we're not supposed to use it against each other."

"Wyatt." Victor admonished, "Leave your brother alone."

Wyatt opened his mouth to protest, but in the end, he simply sighed and leaned back into his seat. Mom would have never, _never_ fallen for that.

"What's the matter with you two anyway?" His grandfather continued, turning briefly around to face them when he came to a stop at a red light. "You've been at each other's throats all morning. Knock it off."

Wyatt sighed again. _His_ problem was that they were going back home, and he didn't know which version of his mom was going to be waiting for him when they got there. She had been normal on Christmas, except for when they were at the club, and she had been sad when she took them to Grandpa's, but she had been herself nonetheless. He just didn't want to be forced to interact with the stranger again; the longer his mom stayed his mom, the harder it was to deal with that other person when she showed her face. He was sick of it. And he was sick of Chris; Chris and his endless stream of questions about their mom, and about dad, and about everything else. Chris' only problem was that he wasn't getting his own way, and now he was being annoying because of it like he always was, only no one was around to tell him to stop being a jerk. Wyatt wanted to go back to Paige and Henry's; usually he didn't mind Grandpa's, but if Chris was going to be like this all day, and he couldn't be home, then he would settle for being with anyone who didn't let his brother get away with everything.

The car began to move forward once again, but it wasn't long before Chris found a new way to aggravate his brother. The first time it happened, Wyatt didn't even look up; he assumed it was an accident. By the second time, he was suspicious, but when Chris bumped his calf with the tip of his shoe for the third time, it became obvious there was nothing accidental about it.

"Don't." Wyatt warned.

There was a challenge written across Chris' features; one that taunted, _what are you going to do about it?_ And Wyatt lost his temper; there was a shower of orbs, and then Chris' Ninja-Turtles sneaker was no longer attached to his foot. Chris stared in disbelief as it reappeared on the road beside them, and he craned his neck, cheek pressed against the window, until they had driven so far, it was no longer within his view.

Wyatt smirked in satisfaction; that would teach him. Even if he got in trouble when mom asked Chris about his shoe, it would be worth it.

There was sniffling beside him, and when he looked at Chris' face, he could see that his brother was about to cry. He glared; Chris never cried when he did something mean… Chris either told on him, or did something just as mean back. Oftentimes, he did both. If he was crying now, he was doing it on purpose for Grandpa.

"These are my favourite shoes."

"You've got lots of other ones." Wyatt replied crossly.

"Daddy got them for me."

With those five words, so softly and sadly spoken, all the irritation Wyatt had been harbouring vanished. He tried to apologize, but his own throat was beginning to swell, and his eyes were starting to itch, and Chris wasn't looking at him anyway.

"I'm sorry." He said remorsefully.

Chris refused to meet his eye. He kept his gaze on the window, but Wyatt would have been able to hear him crying even if he _hadn't_ been able to see tears in the reflection generated by the glass.

Victor took another glance at the mirror, and upon seeing Chris' face he couldn't help but wonder what in the hell was going on between his grandkids.

"Chris? What's wrong?"

Chris dutifully began to respond, but he couldn't find any words. At a total loss, he began to cry in earnest.

"I want my mom." He sobbed.

"Hey now, there's no need to cry." Victor comforted awkwardly, "We're going to be there in a minute; I talked to her before we left and she told me she was making you blueberry pancakes."

He was shocked when Wyatt suddenly burst into tears alongside Chris, and he pushed his foot a little harder against the gas pedal. He was out of his league.

"What's the matter, guys?" He pleaded, "Talk to me."

"It's wrong!" Wyatt cried, "Everything's wrong. Today's Saturday."

"You're crying because it's Saturday?"

"No!" He sniffled, "Because _Sunday_ is blueberry pancake day, and mommy didn't even remember! She _never _remembers _anything_ anymore, because stupid people keep asking about daddy and making her sad, and I don't want to go home, and I don't want pancakes if _that_ mom is the one that's there right now!"

By this point, Victor was already well on the way down Prescott, and ambivalence consumed him. It wasn't his place to tell the boys about Leo; especially not now when they were so close to the house. But it also didn't seem right to continue along while they suffered, knowing he could so easily assuage a lot of the pain they were feeling.

"I'm sure she didn't forget… I think she just wanted to give you a special treat today; even if it is Saturday."

Wyatt made no reply. Instead he angrily wiped the tears from his face. This was stupid. Pancakes were stupid. Saturday was stupid. Sunday was stupid too. And so was-

He frowned as his grandfather pulled into the driveway; _the house was warm_. He couldn't think of another way to put it. He was too young to have more than a vague awareness of his own sensing abilities; he just always seemed to know where people in his family were when he concentrated on them. With his Aunt Paige and Chris it was easiest, although he had yet to figure out why. The house was warm, and he felt warm because the house did. Because the people _inside_ the house did. It was like someone was hugging him.

Chris had his head tilted to one side, and the slight crease between his brows told Wyatt that he was receiving the same feeling. Wyatt tentatively explored the blanket of warmth flowing through him and around him all at the same time; it seemed to be strongest in the kitchen.

"Kitchen?" Chris asked quietly, in time with his thoughts.

Wyatt nodded his head.

"… Your mother's doing the best she can right now; I know it's been rough on all of you these past few weeks, but-

The moment the car was in park, Wyatt and Chris were scrambling out of the vehicle and racing toward the gate; if the feeling was coming from the kitchen, then that was where they were going first.

Victor rolled his eyes; so much for his pep talk. It was probably for the best anyway; he had no idea where he had been going with that speech.

Wyatt and Chris hopped anxiously by the back gate as he got out of the car and headed toward the main entrance.

"Hurry, Grandpa!"

"What's wrong with the front door?"

"This way's faster." Wyatt said impatiently, "But I can't reach the lock."

Victor shrugged and undid the latch, allowing the two boys to run past him through the backyard. He had no idea what it was that had lit the fire beneath them, but in this family, he was accustomed to having slim to no notion of what was going on. Besides, whatever it was that had managed to distract them, it had stopped them from crying. Really, he couldn't ask for more than-

Piper was pressed against the side counter with one leg hitched around the top of Leo's thigh, grinding her pelvis rhythmically against her husband's. Leo, for his part, was keeping her pulled firmly against him with one hand, while his other hand disappeared far up her baby doll t-shirt. The kisses were messy, lustful. And they struggled to catch their breath even as they greedily nipped and sucked and pulled on the mouth of the other.

He removed his hold on her upper thigh and she whimpered into his mouth at the loss of contact, until his hand forced its way through the almost non-existent gap between them and twisted open the button on her jeans. She sighed contently, and only when his hand was halfway down her pants did he remember that there was something he was supposed to be listening for, something-

"Oh my God."

Victor's voice shot through them like a cattle prod. Belatedly, the backdoor screen banged shut.

Piper pushed Leo away from her; hard. And then they stared awkwardly, guilty, at her father.

Okay, _she_ stared guiltily at her father. Leo would be forced to admit he was very fixedly staring anywhere _but_ directly at Victor. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably while Piper slipped instantly, fluidly, from sex-crazed wife to doting mother.

"Good morning, boys." She smiled deliberately.

In a way, she was lucky. The boys would be too stunned by Leo's presence to even think to question what their parents had been doing; she only wished the same could be said about Victor. Wyatt and Chris stood shocked, and the uncharacteristic stillness of her rambunctious boys pulled her heartstrings. She continued to smile as she crouched down in front of her children.

"I made your favourite." She began softly, taking a hand from each son in each of hers. She had done this before, more than once. She knew how important it was to have someone real to touch in those first moments, when you suddenly couldn't quite be sure whether you were awake, or living only through some vivid dream. "I know it's only Saturday, but I didn't think you would mind having pancakes two days in a row. Today is a very special day."

_She remembered._ It was the first coherent thought to grace Wyatt's mind following his entering the kitchen and seeing his mom kissing his dad. He knew it had to be his dad, because mom liked kissing dad too much to ever kiss anybody else; she had told him so when he told her about his friend Lucas at school who only had a daddy now instead of a mommy and a daddy because his mom had kissed some boy at work.

The next thing to register was the warmth; the same consuming glow that had drawn him and Chris to the kitchen in the first place. It was everywhere in the house; in his mom, in his aunts in the next room, in his uncles... but it wasn't theirs. It was touching them the same way it was touching him, but the source was right here in the kitchen. And being so close to it, it was more of a pull than a feeling now. A pull from his father, standing only feet away.

"Do you feel it too?" He asked softly, staring over Piper's shoulder to where Leo was shifting anxiously from side to side.

"Yeah, buddy." Leo smiled. "I feel it too."

"What is it?" Chris asked, bewildered. "It's pretty. Like mommy's hair."

He stepped forward and kneeled beside Piper, sending her a grateful smile when she subtly shifted to one side and allowed him to take over. "Well, it's…"

He paused as he racked his brain for a very uncomplicated way to explain a very complicated situation, and then a scab on Chris' skinny arm caught his attention.

"What happened here?" He asked his son, fingering the rough wound lightly.

"I was having a race with Wyatt and I fell off the ladder for the slide at the park." Chris informed him proudly.

Leo hesitantly stretched out his fingers; it was strange, this action that had come as naturally to him as breathing, feeling so foreign and unfamiliar. The boys gasped in unison as the golden light poured from his hand, and Chris felt a gentle warmth on his skin to match the one inside of him. That was why it had seemed familiar; it was like healing. It was like being healed, but different at the same time.

"You got powers again?" Wyatt exclaimed.

He had grown up listening to stories of when his dad had magic; when his dad had done Aunt Paige's job and kept them all from being hurt because Aunt Paige didn't have that power yet. But it wasn't an image he had been able to hold on to before now. Already, his toddler memories had become fuzzy and vague, and regardless of the effort he put in to envisioning such things, imagination really only went so far.

"Why does it feel different?" Chris asked curiously, poking a finger in the spot where the scab had been moments before.

Leo gently pulled his hand away. "You two are my sons; you're made up of half of me, and half of mommy. Family has a special magic of its own; and in the same way that you two are connected as brothers, and your mom is connected to her sisters, we can feel each other's whitelighter magic, because your whitelighter magic is a part of mine. You're going to feel it a little more intensely when I heal you than when your Aunt Paige does, and sometimes when we're close, you'll feel it in the air the way you do right now. You'll get used to it; by the end of the day you won't even notice anymore."

He gave them a reassuring smile and a wink, and then they both snapped out of the fog they had been trapped in since their grandfather had pulled up to the house. They threw their bodies carelessly into his arms, trusting that he would catch them. He did. Of course.

"We missed you."

"I missed you too." He breathed, holding them tightly, "I'm sorry I was gone for so long."

"I cried. A lot." Wyatt admitted, his face buried in his father's neck. "And Chris cried too. And Mommy."

Leo glanced at Piper, but she continued to smile even as her over-bright eyes began to shine with unshed tears. She couldn't help it; there was so much happiness between her husband and her sons she could fairly feel it buzz through her.

"Did you leave 'cause you wanted to get your magic back?"

"No." He said firmly, pulling away from the two of them to make sure they were looking into each others' eyes. "There is nothing in the world I want more than being home with you. I didn't want to leave. I would rather go without magic forever than go a day without you two and mommy. You remember that, okay? You're what's most important to me."

They nodded their heads and he felt the wonderful pressure of their tiny arms encircling his neck once again. Then he lifted them up simultaneously with ease and came face to face with Victor.

Victor. Right.

In his excitement to be reunited with his sons, he had almost forgotten, but it only took one look at Victor's face to see that the incident had in no way slipped his father-in-law's mind. It was comical, really; Leo was used to being liked, to putting people at ease. And the one person he couldn't seem to win over, no matter how many years passed, was his wife's father. In fact, through an endless series of isolated incidents and bizarre events, Leo somehow always managed to make it worse. Getting caught groping the man's daughter took things to a whole different level. He didn't even want to think about the way Victor had caught them. He wanted to take the coward's way out and just run like hell from this room.

His gaze met Piper's, and her eyes narrowed as she seemed to read that last thought. The message on her face was clear; if he left her alone with her dad, if he used the boys as an excuse to run away like a high school boy, she would never forgive him.

The silence had been carrying on too long, he needed to say _something_. At least Victor couldn't take a swing at him as long as he had Wyatt and Chris in his arms. There was comfort to be found in that. He wasn't above using his children as a buffer to avoid having it out with her father.

"Victor." He nodded his head in what he hoped was a respectful manner, and ignored the way his voice came out a few octaves higher than it should have.

"Leo." He replied curtly.

"Thanks for watching them, dad." Piper stepped in, "I hope they didn't give you any trouble."

She looked pointedly at her sons, and a flash of guilt passed between them.

Victor continued his stare-down with Leo, and Piper let out a nervous laugh, filling the silence with anything and everything that popped into her head.

"Breakfast." She cleared her throat. "Umm, you're staying, right? I mean you're already here, you might as well. Everyone else is here already; I kicked them out of the kitchen awhile ago so I'm sure they're getting antsy. They've been taking turns picking at the food, and Leo's already snuck two pieces of bacon when he thought I wasn't looking; it's easy to see where the boys get it from I mean, the second you stop watching him his hands are _everywhere.._."

Oh God. She had done it again. She felt the heat building in her face, and when she chanced a glance at Leo, his face was already bright red. Even she couldn't dance her way out of this one. She felt the accusatory glare of her husband upon her, even though she couldn't bring herself to look at him. So he thought this was all her fault, did he? He hadn't exactly said no. Not after the first time anyway. Typical.

Wyatt and Chris stared curiously at the three adults who seemed suddenly unable to make eye contact with one another. Chris fiddled absently with the collar on Leo's shirt; everything was right again, and already, he was beginning to lose touch with the sadness that had been in his house so long. Especially when there was this pretty glow touching everything.

"Your face is really red, daddy." He commented, pressing a hand to his father's cheek, "And hot, too. Do you want some water? Mommy got new cups; they're really cool."

Leo cleared his throat and shifted his weight for the twentieth time. "No thanks, buddy. Maybe later."

"Are you sure? 'Cause-

"I'm sure, Chris." Leo assured.

"Wanna see what we got for Christmas?" Wyatt asked eagerly.

"I sure do!" Leo answered immediately. He covered a wince as Piper's equally immediate wave of panic washed over him. That was one thing he hadn't missed about being a whitelighter; there were times he had loved feeling her happiness within himself, but when she was angry – or close to it, the way she was now – it was an annoyance more than anything else.

_Don't you dare._

For a moment, he thought he could physically hear the warning in her sharp, desperate tone. Then he shook his head; this was going to take adjusting. He plastered a smile on his face and blatantly ignored her unspoken command.

"We'll be back." Leo chirped cheerfully.

Piper followed his body as he disappeared through the kitchen doors. _Coward_. She thought. She turned her gaze back to her father and plastered on a smile every bit as fake as Leo's.

"Coffee?" She asked, busying herself with the various dishes adorning the counter.

Victor ran a hand over his face. "First, could you please…"

He gestured vaguely toward her, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. _What now?_ Then she looked down and realized her jeans were still undone. She cringed as she flicked her wrists quickly, freezing Victor in mid-sentence.

"Are you kidding me?" She muttered, swiftly yanking the zipper back into place and fastening the button. Freezing her dad may have been admittedly immature, but she was thirty five years old for crying out loud; having her father walk in on her and Leo going at it in her kitchen was bad enough, but she was _not_ going to be forced to adjust her clothing in front of him like some teenager caught red-handed.

"Leo." She hissed, glaring at the ceiling, "I know you can hear me. Thanks a lot."

He didn't answer her, not that she had expected him to, and she growled before assuming her previous position and nonchalantly hooking her thumbs through her belt loops.

"Could I please…?" She repeated expectantly when Victor unfroze.

He frowned, "I could have sworn… never mind." He shook his head.

Piper shrugged her shoulders with calculated indifference. "So did you want that coffee?" She asked again, retrieving a mug from the cupboard before he had a chance to respond.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do all this again?"

Piper froze with her back to him, and exhaled slowly before turning around.

"Dad."

Just that one word appeared to take almost everything out of her, and Victor shuffled uncomfortably as he watched the light dim behind her eyes, leaving her looking almost as drained as she had seemed yesterday morning.

"How many more times are you going to put yourself through this before enough's enough?" He continued.

Piper poured the percolated liquid carefully into the two mugs. This was the exact conversation she had been trying to avoid.

She loved her father. She was glad he was now a part of her and her children's lives. He was trying really hard to make up for abandoning them. These were all facts. However, it was also a fact that it was far too late for him to try to play protector; he still didn't know her well enough to make assumptions about the way she lived her life. Unfortunately, there was hardly a way to say that diplomatically.

"I know you've never really "got" Leo and I." She began slowly, sliding the mug across the island toward him. "But he loves me and our sons with everything he has in him. And that's not the kind of thing you just walk away from."

"I loved your mother." He said softly, "It's not always enough."

"I know that." Piper admitted, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "But you and mom had your own set of issues, just like Leo and I have ours. And they aren't all that alike."

"Piper-

She folded her arms across her chest and stood a little taller, and Victor let out a resigned sigh. "It's none of my business."

"No." She confirmed. "It's really not."

Piper would choose Leo over him time and time again if it came to it; and if he continued to force this, it just might. And so, in the interest of preserving the tentative relationship he had formed with his second daughter, he let it go.

"I'm starving. We should get this show on the road."

Piper smiled, and her battle stance disappeared.

"I'll be ready in a minute. It sounds like everyone's in the living room; you can go call them."

* * *

_Hey dad, your pancake looks kind of like a fish._

_Daddy guess what? Chris hit me in the mouth by accident and now my tooth is loose._

_Wyatt and me saw a caterpillar with spikes on it._

_Can we get a swimming pool like the one at Ryan's?_

Leo sat in between his sons and lapped up their nonstop chatter. If he stopped and listened, he could pick up four different conversations between the ten people seated around the table. They carried on as if he had never left, as if his return had already become an accepted event, and the longer he sat amidst the the laughter, the more fervently he felt he had been left behind. For once, it seemed it was Piper who was open and happy and willing to just trust this reality, while he was stuck in shock, afraid to breathe and have it all blow away. It was surreal.

Coop was animatedly trying to convince Laura to eat a sliver of strawberry, while Victor went into detail about his last overseas trip with Phoebe and Paige. Henry and Piper were arguing about some lamp Henry had apparently broken during a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit. Wyatt and Chris were trying to decide whether or not the Charmed Ones would be able to vanquish Superman if they had to do so.

Was this the way Piper so often felt? Was this where her mind went when the otherworldly, distant expression came over her during these supposedly ordinary moments? He understood now… or at least he thought he did. He could see the way quiet reflection could make you feel as if you were watching a scene, a play, and it was so pretty and perfect you wanted to weep because you were stuck outside of it and couldn't find your way in, even though you knew you should be a part of the cast. It should have been easy for him to join any one of the aforementioned conversations, it should have been natural. So why couldn't he move?

He felt Piper's socked foot run lightly up and down the inside of his leg, but when he looked at her she was every bit as absorbed in her fight with Henry as she had been the moment before. And then he saw it. Her eyes strayed away from Henry so quickly, so subtly, he almost missed it. _Come back to me._ They beckoned. _Breathe._

Then he was relieved to realize he was once again on the inside. He tried to thank her, but she was gesturing impatiently in Henry's direction and yelling something about irreplaceable antiques. Her foot remained on his shin until he was certain the moment had passed, and it was only after he responded to Paige's quip about him hording the maple syrup that he realized at some point she had removed her foot, and with it, any evidence that she had rescued him from being utterly alone in a room full of people.

"Does it hurt?" Chris asked him around a mouthful of strawberry crepe.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, buddy; you'll choke."

Chris obediently chewed, swallowed, and then opened his mouth for his father's inspection.

"Does what hurt?"

"When mommy bites your face like she did in the kitchen."

Leo coughed and took a sip of water from the tall glass in front of him. He glanced nervously around the table to see if anyone else had witnessed the question, but, miraculously, he was safe.

"No, Chris." He answered casually, hoping that the short, definite answer would satisfy his son's curiosity. Of course, with Chris, that was asking the impossible. It could never be that simple.

"You made a noise like it hurt."

Leo made a noncommittal sound and examined the food on his plate studiously.

"I thought we weren't allowed to bite."

"You're not."

"Then how come mommy did?"

Piper turned her head at the mention of her name.

"How come mommy did what?" She inquired.

Leo shook his head in her direction, but it was too late.

"How come in the kitchen you were biting daddy's mouth when biting's against the rules?"

The table was quiet. Of course it was. Naturally, in forty minutes of nonstop chatter and shouts to be heard over one another, Chris would choose the three second lull in conversation to loudly ask his question. Her kids needed muzzles.

Paige giggled, and Piper waited for the teasing to begin, but they were apparently content to sit in silence until she made a response. Phoebe was the next to smother a giggle, and Piper shot her a warning look.

In the end, Henry, the bastard, was the one who made the bold first move.

"Sometimes even mommy's break the rules, Chris." Henry informed him seriously, "The important thing is that they say sorry. Piper," He smiled at her even as she kicked him hard beneath the table, "did you apologize to Leo for biting him?"

"Yes I did." She lied over-brightly through clenched teeth.

Wyatt frowned, "No you didn't, mom. 'Cause then dad left with us and you stayed with Grandpa. Remember?"

"What would I do without you, Wyatt?" She said dryly.

Wyatt beamed and then went happily back to his pancakes.

"What do you say, Piper?" Henry prompted.

"You're going to pay for this." Piper threatened under her breath.

"Sorry, what was that?"

She kicked him again and then cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Leo."

Leo too tried to hide a smirk behind his water glass, and she rolled her eyes. Traitor. How did this go from being a joke at both their expenses, to just hers?

"Sorry for what?" Henry continued smugly.

Piper stared at him hard, and then she suddenly turned her head to where her sister was seated a few spots down from her.

"Paige, remember those drunk teenagers who kicked in your front door last year?"

"Piper, no!" Henry ordered.

"_I'm sorry_, Henry." Piper said dutifully, "I'm going to give it to you in advance, how about that? _I'm sorry_ I told Paige the story behind the drunken teenagers."

"You promised!"

"You brought this on yourself."

"What about them?" Paige asked suspiciously.

"There were no drunken teenagers. Just one idiot Henry. One idiot Henry who caught the door on a weak spot and crashed into it hard when he tripped over your cat. Consequently, that coked out parolee he fought that broke his hand?"

"You're the devil."Henry muttered.

"Yeah, no coked out parolee. Again, just an idiot Henry."

She was laughing openly now, as were the rest of them. Even Victor allowed himself a chuckle.

"He broke it against the door trying to catch himself in the same fall. I spent six hours in the emergency room with him because he didn't want you to find out." Piper giggled.

"So we had a wood plank in place of a real door for two days because you tripped over the cat." Paige confirmed incredulously.

"You really are an idiot." Phoebe snorted.

"Thanks, Piper." Henry sighed, "Thanks a lot."

She grinned cheekily and gave him a mock salute, and with that, the entire table was a bickering, teasing symphony of comfortably familiar voices. Leo took one more minute to memorize the details, and then Leo joined the scene.

* * *

He stood by her side as their family journeyed to the cars filling the driveway, and he waved distractedly from the door as they disappeared from sight. His ears rang with the sudden silence. It was past midnight now; dark and still. Somehow, in the way it sometimes did, one planned meal had turned in to an all day affair. This time yesterday, he had been finalizing his deal with Sandra, and Piper… he frowned. According to Phoebe, Piper had been table dancing. Again. At this point it seemed like an activity half the city had seen her do, and he had yet to catch it even once. He shook his head. Focus. Piper was looking at him strangely; had she asked a question? Was she waiting for an answer?

"I'm sorry… what?"

Her face softened, "Nothing."

She took his hand and led him down the hallway, and they stopped just inside the parlour; Wyatt and Chris were sprawled out on the couch together fast asleep. Wyatt had a toy train tucked securely under his cheek, and Piper gently removed it before one of the sharper components could take an eye out.

"Wyatt, or Chris?" She asked, eyes sparkling.

She was re-establishing their ritual, and he loved her for it. He had been fighting to get back to her for so long, it was difficult to get his head around the fact that he was really here, now that everything was still. Now that he was no longer fighting to get back to earth, or fighting not to touch his sons, or fighting to find his wife.

"Wyatt's heavier." He answered, the way he always had, "You take Chris."

She lifted Chris first, removing the fistful of his brother's jeans he had taken in his sleep, and then Leo gathered Wyatt in his arms and smiled when the five year old boy sleepily gripped his neck.

"I can never get over how amazing they are." He said, adjusting Wyatt's head on his shoulder and supporting him with a gentle hand. "It's so easy for them to accept what happened; so easy for them to just…"

"Move on?" Piper smiled, "I know. I'm admittedly a little jealous. It's funny; Chris has to ask a hundred questions as to how the refrigerator keeps things cold, and why certain things need to be kept cold in the first place, but you coming back from the dead? Nothing. The magical things, they accept without question."

"It's as normal to them as breathing." He said wistfully.

It surprised him how difficult the adjustment to being home was proving to be. He was accustomed to an easy transition; to playing the role of comforter while Piper acclimated herself to the change with painstaking slowness and uncertainty. Now, it seemed she was the one easily trusting his return, and he was the one left floundering in the ocean, watching gigantic liners sail blissfully onward without any idea that he was right beside them, drowning. He listened to the tiny, quick thump of Wyatt's heart; an old habit he had forgotten he once had. It had started with Piper, going back to their tremulous dating days when they were together, and then they weren't, and then they were together, and then they weren't. Listening to the steady rhythm of her heart had been better than meditation; no matter what they had been dealing with, no matter what had been going on around them, or with them, as long as her heart continued beating it hadn't been as bad as it could have been. With the births of Wyatt and Chris, he had been given two additional heartbeats to cling to while him and Piper fell further and further apart. It was something he had missed when he first lost his powers; something he hadn't told Piper he missed, because they had just found each other again and she hadn't been secure enough in that yet to interpret it as anything other than regret. And then eventually he hadn't missed it at all. Until now.

Piper stared at him curiously, but she knew only too well the ambivalent emotions he would be wrestling right now considering her own ongoing struggle, and she carefully cradled Chris against her body and headed for the stairs, trusting Leo would follow.

She nudged the boys' door open with her hip and walked into the room, racking her brain to remember which boy was on the top bunk this week. If she got it wrong, she wouldn't hear the end of it come tomorrow. She thought it was Wyatt's turn, although it could have been Chris'…

She backtracked to the hallway when she realized Leo hadn't come in behind her, and she found him frozen in the hallway between the two bedrooms.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, adjusting Chris' increasingly heavy weight in her arms.

"I… can we, can they…"

He laughed nervously and she gave him a tolerant smile, "Can they…?"

"Stay with us. Just for tonight."

"Leo," She laughed softly, "It's bad enough with one of them in there… if we try to fit all four of us in our bed, you and I are going to wake up on the floor."

He simply smiled at her and she rolled her eyes; she never _had _been able to say no to that smile. It seemed cruel to start on his first day back. She sighed and pulled Chris and Wyatt's bedroom door shut behind her, and Leo leaned down to kiss her temple as she walked by him into their room.

The boys were placed in the centre of the mattress, and Piper gently pulled off their jeans while Leo changed out of his. When Piper went back for her sons' pyjama bottoms, somewhere between their bedroom and the boys', the exhaustion hit her like a train. By the time she returned to her room, she could hear the painfully normal sound of Leo brushing his teeth in their bathroom, and she struggled to keep her eyes open as she eased the plaid cotton pants onto her sons.

"Mom." Wyatt whined groggily in protest.

"Shh. I'm sorry honey; go back to sleep."

"Cold."

She tugged the pyjamas around his tiny hips and then pulled the comforter over his body and Chris'. "Better?" She asked. But Wyatt had already fallen back asleep.

She brushed his fair hair out of his eyes and then donned her own nightwear, more asleep than not as she did so. As she climbed beneath the blankets and moved Chris back to the centre of the bed, she absently noted that Wyatt too had already sprawled to cover Leo's half of the bed in its entirety. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself; it served him right.

She barely registered when the mattress dipped slightly under Leo's added weight, and she was almost completely under when she felt his hand run gently over her face and pull her back into consciousness.

"It's real." She murmured. "Trust it. Sleep."

Leo pulled his hand away and stared at her peaceful face. Her long hair was splayed across her pillow, and her eyelashes delicately brushed the hand she had tucked under her cheek. They really were quite the pair. Why one of them always had to be on the verge of a breakdown, he didn't know; but at least they took turns.

"Sorry." He whispered back. "It wasn't like this yesterday; I'm not sure what changed. I didn't have time to think before, and now, all day there's been this…" His voice trailed off, and he searched for the right word.

"Trepidation." She finished softly, "And you're waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under you, even as you tell yourself to relax."

"Yes."

"It will pass." She assured, "I promise it will pass."

Then her small hand was in his, and a moment later her even breathing told him she had finally succumbed to sleep.

With the limp pressure of her hand, and the sound of their three steady heartbeats in the still room, Leo soon followed suit.

* * *

_**Disclaimer: **__I'm just the lowly writer. The frequent nakedness and near-nakedness of Piper and Leo is entirely outside my realm of control. That's my claim, and I'm sticking to it. I know it was a long chapter, but the last thing I wanted to do was split it up and drag the reunion out even more than I already have; we've got demons to kill and elders to riot against and three chapters to do it all in! Thank you for being patient with me, and to those of you that gave me subtle/not-so-subtle kicks in the butt, you're the reason I finally buckled down and made a tentative truce with Chapter 17 :P . We may not ever be the best of friends, but at least he's no longer my nemisis. He'll be up by the end of the week._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The bedroom was cold… _he _was cold, which was a rarity. There was a kink in his neck, and as he was thinking about carefully changing position, a tiny limb made sharp contact with his jaw. He muttered a mild curse and opened his eyelids a crack; pain immediately forgotten, Leo smiled and eased himself into a sitting position, wary of making any sudden movements that would disturb the other occupants of the bed. Aside from the blanket stealing, Piper rarely moved in her sleep, and as far as he knew, he was the same way. Which was why watching the never-ending tossing and turning of his boys ceaselessly astounded him. Wyatt wasn't even facing the right direction anymore; at some point the five year old had made a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn, and it was his small foot that had so abruptly kicked Leo. Chris, now lying width-wise across the bed, was not much better. Piper lay on her back with on arm above her head, and the other hand resting on Chris' head atop her stomach. Leo realized the cold he felt stemmed from Piper's theft of the blankets; again. The duvet was tangled around her torso, covering Chris' face, and he fought the urge to uncover his son, knowing it would only be a matter of minutes before Chris tunnelled his way beneath the comforter once more.

The sky outside the window was a dismal, pre-morning shade of greyish blue, and Leo eventually decided to chance moving Wyatt and Chris in order to rejoin his family in slumber before the stillness became too much. He started with Chris, spread out at the top of the pile as always. Piper frowned and shifted slightly as he eased the duvet off her body in order to reach his youngest son. He shook his head with resigned amusement when he turned Wyatt back toward the headboard, and he had just begun to re-cover Chris and Piper's bodies when she slowly opened her eyes and lethargically stretched as far as her limited space would allow.

"Hi." She mumbled sleepily.

"Hey." He smiled back.

"Did you sleep at all?"

Her eyes were closer to closed than not, and Leo had no doubt she was fighting her body's desire for slumber with everything she had in her.

"I slept." He assured her.

Her smile grew into a full sized grin, and she allowed her eyes to drift shut. "That's good." She murmured.

The moment sleep was within his grasp, the moment his body relaxed into the mattress and he surrendered to the warmth of the newly possessed blanket, Wyatt's elbow caught him in almost the exact spot he had kicked him earlier. He was startled back into consciousness and he let out a low groan that was met by the sound of Piper's muffled giggle. As he watched her, she slowly reopened her eyes.

"It's dangerous sleeping beside him, isn't it?" She commented groggily.

"He certainly doesn't show any mercy." He replied with a smile. "He seems taller… did he get taller?"

"No."

"I could have sworn he grew."

Becoming more alert with each word that passed between them, Piper propped herself up on one elbow and used her other hand to push back the mass of hair that had fallen across her face.

"They missed you so much." She reminisced with a soft smile. "You wouldn't believe some of the 'master plans' they concocted to get you back."

"Yeah?" He laughed, "I'm surprised they ran them by you first."

Her smile grew sad and then faded altogether, "It twisted the knife. I think eventually it started to hurt Wyatt too; after a while he didn't want to play that game anymore. Then he didn't want to talk about you at all. Poor Chris couldn't understand what changed. And you know what Wyatt does when he's angry and he can't find words."

"He hits."

"He hits." Piper confirmed. "And then Chris started hitting back. The first time, Wyatt deserved it; I mean I was a couple minutes away from smacking the kid myself, but then between the two of them it started to get out of hand."

"They've always played rough."

"It was different." Piper reflected absently, "They were just so sad, and so angry. Especially Wyatt; I mean he's almost six. Chris is barely four… he was incredibly confused."

"And how about you?"

"Me?" She paused and a small crease formed between her eyebrows. Leo hadn't thought the question would be so difficult to answer. "I missed you, too." She said finally, simply.

Translation: I thought I was going to die alongside you. Being without you stripped me of more than I could have imagined. I would have moved on for the sake of our sons, but a part of me stopped existing when you did.

He understood.

"And for you?"

"It was hard."

I felt rage in a way I've only really felt it once before. I thought I would combust from the heat of it that consumed me. I can't, and won't, ever be without you, regardless of Them.

She understood too.

"So," she began slowly, "what exactly are the conditions of your return? They wouldn't have let you come back unless they were getting something out of it."

Leo squirmed uncomfortably under her steady gaze.

"You want to talk about that now?"

Piper raised an eyebrow, and he continued to fidget. "I very much do not want to talk about it. But, that doesn't change the fact that we have to."

He added her voice, so careful to properly enunciate each syllable, to the list of things about her he loved most of all. Another thing he had so taken for granted it hadn't even occurred to him as a big thing to miss, and yet, he was certain that in the absence of that voice, of that tone, he would somehow be less.

Leo cleared his throat. "I think they actually expected me to just… go along with it. To just embrace the new role the way I did the very first time. And that, that made me so angry." He confessed with a self depreciating laugh.

He stopped fiddling with the sheet suddenly, and turned bright, piercing eyes directly into hers.

"I know I screwed up when I left you for the Elders."

Her protest was immediate; they didn't need to relive that. It was beating a long-dead horse.

"Leo, you didn't-

"Yeah, I did." He interjected certainly. "You've lost so many people close to you; you don't trust anything easily. You trusted me, gave yourself to me completely, and I betrayed that trust. It took me awhile to see it, but I… destroyed, a part of you… and I have to live with that. I have to watch the uncertainty, the caution, with which you approach our marriage sometimes, and know that I did that to you."

Now it was her who couldn't quite meet the intensity of his gaze, and he smiled sadly, knowing he was right as he watched her run restless fingers through Chris' hair in order to disguise the mounting anxiety.

"They expected me to make the same choice… even with the whole, hurling myself off the bridge, thing. And I think, a lot of my anger was for myself, because my leaving you gave them that confidence. Piper."

He said her name firmly, breathlessly, and she reluctantly tore her gaze away from her son's dark hair set against pale cheeks to meet his eye.

"You're the most important thing in the world to me. You always have been. I lost sight of that once, and it will never happen again."

His voice was husky with emotion, and the low tenor washed over the damaged parts of her soul.

"I know." She answered honestly. "I know that. My issues are exactly that; _my_ issues. They're neither your fault, nor your responsibility. I'm… skittish. I was that way long before I met you. You married a mental case, Leo Wyatt."

He frowned, "Don't joke like that."

She ignored this; they were getting off subject. "So I'm guessing, considering the amount of time you were gone, They were not so much receptive to you telling them where to go when they dropped the "relocation" bomb."

"No. Not so much receptive." Leo grinded his teeth. "And once Odin realized exactly how much I didn't want to be there, he suddenly became very attached to the idea of me staying a whitelighter. He was happy to see me unhappy; it finally let him win. He baited me, and I baited him back, and it all became really childish really quickly until Sandra got sick of us and put an end to it all."

"And the verdict?" She prompted softly, well aware that despite all the talking he had done in the last five minutes, none of it had served to answer her question.

Leo absently stroked Wyatt's arm, "Well, as long as Paige is willing, we can split the duties of Whitelighter to the Charmed Ones."

Piper rolled her eyes, "For God sakes Leo, that's a given. Stop teasing me."

He laughed, "Okay. I'll keep running Magic School, and I'll have charges of my own, but not as many as before. And none of the assignments that took me away for weeks at a time. I think, once they realized there really wasn't much they could do besides kill me or keep me imprisoned Up There for all eternity, they just decided to get what they could out of it. Odin wasn't about to admit the Elders had made a mistake resurrecting me. Basically, I'm going to be like Paige. Minus the kickass Halliwell magic, of course." He finished with a smile.

"I can live with that." She smiled back. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

He relaxed; no, it wasn't that bad. But what he didn't want to tell her, what he was afraid to tell her, was that a large part of this _fit _for him. He was… excited by the prospect of helping again. By the thought that he would, once again, be of real use to his wife and her sisters.

"You're glad."

Her voice was soft, confident, and he knew he should have known better than to try and hide anything from her.

"I love you." He assured quickly, "I would have gladly lived the rest of my life without powers if that was the only way to be with you and our sons. Gladly. Gladly."

Her eyes danced merrily at the desperation in his repeated words, and she reached across the mattress to place a gentle hand on his cheek.

"I know, honey."

"And I don't want you to think that I haven't been happy these last few years, or that I regretted giving them up; because I have, and I don't."

"But you're glad." She reiterated.

He paused, "I'm glad." He let out a relieved breath and then laughed, "I'm glad. I want to help Wyatt and Chris explore their gifts… I want to teach them with more than just history lessons and books from Magic School. I want to heal you when you're hurt instead of hoping that Paige hears me, and anxiously waiting for her to get to you in time. I want to watch my charges blossom into the amazing people I know they're going to be, even if they aren't aware of it yet. I want to _help_."

He took a deep breath and then flushed slightly in the silence that ensued, "I honestly didn't miss it that much, despite what I sound like now. It's only now that I've got them again that it's all flooding back to me."

She leaned carefully over the two children spread about the majority of the bed, and pressed a sweet, loving kiss against his lips. "You have an extraordinary gift. Even without the magic. And as long as you always come home to me, I can share you with the world on occasion. "

"Really?" He grinned.

"Really." She echoed.

"I will always come home to you." He promised firmly, pressing his lips against hers anew.

"I'm going to hold you to that." She returned seriously. "I'm trusting you not to break my heart again, Leo."

"I know. And I won't." He looked lovingly at the two boys below him, and brushed Wyatt's static charged blond hair off his forehead. "I can't bear the thought of them not knowing me."

She gave him a satisfied smile and then yawned before lying on her back and sighing contently.

"What time is it?" Leo asked abruptly.

She gave him a curious stare, but she turned her head to look at the alarm clock regardless. "Almost seven. Why?"

He gave her a mischievous grin that reminded her so much of their boys, directly before they did something outrageous, she groaned and started shaking her head before he even had a chance to speak.

"I don't want to."

"You don't even know what I was going to say." Leo protested indignantly.

"I know your face. I know _that_ face. And whatever it is, I am not onboard."

"Do the boys have any winter clothes?"

She frowned, "You mean like, parkas and snow pants? No; of course not. What the hell would they need those for?"

"It's almost ten o'clock in Vermont right now." He grinned wider, "The stores will be open."

"We are so not going to Vermont." She replied incredulously. "What's the matter with you?"

"That day when we went to the mall, Wyatt and Chris saw this toboggan, and they were so excited about it. When I told them there would never be enough snow here to use one, Chris suggested asking Paige to take them somewhere with snow… but I could do that now."

"Since when do you ever support violating the 'personal gain' rule?"

"Since I went a month and a half without seeing my family, and I became desperate to make up the time with them."

His retort was made with such a charismatic twist to his mouth, Piper could do nothing more than pull the comforter over her head in silent protest.

* * *

The dungeons of the underworld went untouched, unvisited, for centuries at a time, and the stench of closed spaces and unwashed bodies and mould put demons on edge. Even Lisgav eyed the listless beings in their cages with a certain degree of wariness. Demons capable of creating worlds, demons capable of single-handedly destroying them, demons who could manipulate thoughts, demons who were impervious to assault. The power in these passageways was overwhelming, and yet, the Charmed Ones superseded them all. The thought excited him and enraged him at the same time. He had underestimated the power of the middle sister; he had known better than to disregard her, but he hadn't counted on her ability to so easily tap into the power of the oldest. And she was much faster than he had given her credit for.

It was no matter now. He had long since placed that day far behind him. He had been right in separating them, but he had come to realize that the explosive power of the eldest Halliwell was perhaps more of a nuisance than the healing capabilities of the youngest. This time, he would start with her. He could handle them one at a time; the eldest witch and her children, the middle one – before her gift of sight alerted her to anything being amiss – and finally the youngest.

Which brought him here.

He wandered the caverns, examining the wondrous cages that had been manufactured by the most powerful seer within his time, and he paused before an empty cage set between two occupied ones, whose inhabitants eyed him with vague curiosity.

"Eyes forward." He snapped tersely. "I'm not here for you."

Their half-dead eyes sprang to life, expressing rampant hatred for the lesser being coming and going as it pleased him. No power could help the underworld should any of these prisoners get free and take their revenge for centuries, millenniums, of confinement. He ignored their gazes and focused on the cage once more; there was a reason it was empty. One of the seer's more creative pieces, it was a starvation chamber of sorts. It sucked the magic out of beings slowly until there was nothing left of them. It was the only one of its kind; the seer's last contribution to evil before she and the elective council fell at the hands of the Charmed Ones.

With the added assistance of four of his men, they transported the cage out of the dungeons, and to the Oracle's chamber.

"Is this it?" She cooed girlishly, running a slender finger over the bars with obvious awe sparkling in her bright eyes.

She was young, much more so than others in her position, and she played the part of the disinterested demon lacking in ambition perfectly, but she possessed stark intelligence. It was why he had come to her; she was powerful enough to help him, and smart enough not to betray him. Yet. She had patience enough to wait a thousand years, he was sure, and she wouldn't risk being anything but helpful until the Charmed Ones were all dead.

"Don't play games." He responded impatiently, "You know it is. It was you who told me exactly where to find it."

Her expression immediately transformed into one of perfect naïveté – as if any demon could claim such – and she deftly found a latch where even he had not seen one, though he had looked, and clapped her hands in delight when a chain clanked and the front gate sprung open.

"So you plan on catching the Charmed Ones and waiting until they are drained of their powers, and then you'll kill them."

"Yes." Lisgav answered suspiciously. Something in her tone led him to believe she might be mocking him; it would be in her best interest to tread carefully.

"It's a solid course of action." She nodded.

"But?" He pressed expectantly.

"But," she continued with grace, "it seems slightly unsatisfactory."

"Slightly." He agreed. "However, success, in the grand scheme, outranks satisfaction. I'll kill them myself before the cage can; I just need to wait until their magic is sufficiently depleted. And, I will still have the children. They're weak enough for me to take their powers by force; there's plenty of satisfaction to be found in that."

"I suppose." She sighed dreamily.

"You have another suggestion?" Lisgav inquired, disguising his impatience.

Her dazzling, slightly absent eyes suddenly gave way to pointed intelligence and clarity. "What if I told you, you could have the power of all three Charmed Ones, not just the second generation half-breeds?"

Lisgav's eyes narrowed, "It's an interesting enough proposition; you'll forgive my suspicion, I hope. I have to wonder why you yourself haven't done so already."

"Me?" Her eyes danced again, and she stretched languorously against the metal bars. "No no. Far too messy. That's a job best left to your kind. I'll expect certain things in return, of course."

"Of course." He bowed graciously.

"Fantastic." She clapped again and hopped lithely toward the outer hall. "Come. We have much to do."

* * *

Geography had never been her best subject; she had absolutely no concept of direction. She was taking Leo's word that they were in Vermont, because for all she knew, they weren't even in the United States anymore.

"Careful!" She called nervously as Wyatt threw himself fearlessly atop the newly purchased snow tube and sent himself careening down the blinding white hillside.

Leo's arms settled around her waist, and she leaned into his touch. Not that she could actually feel it through her three sweaters and winter jacket.

"Have you ever been here before?" he asked curiously.

"Once in high school. It was a four day ski-trip."

"Did you like it?"

She shrugged. "It was alright. Cold. Like now."

Leo laughed, "Honey, it's barely below freezing, it's completely still, and the sun has been out the entire time we've been here. It's hardly that bad."

"Says the dead guy." She retorted.

They watched Wyatt reach the bottom of the hill, and then their attention turned to Chris, struggling to make it back to the top with his crazy carpet in tow. Neither one of them could help but laugh when Chris suddenly fell backwards and rolled almost to the bottom before finding his feet, forcing him to begin the slow upward trek practically further down the hillside than he had started it.

"My poor boy." Piper giggled, "He can barely stand."

"Mom!" He bellowed determinedly from the bottom, "It's too warm! Can I take off my hat? Please?!"

"Don't even think about it, mister." She yelled back immediately.

"Piper he's got an undershirt, two t-shirts and a sweater on underneath a full snowsuit… he's probably melting."

"I don't know…"

"Can we pull down the zipper a little bit?" Wyatt shouted next.

She tilted her head to look up at Leo, and off his relaxed smile she rolled her eyes and relented. "I guess I'm outvoted. Again."

"Go ahead boys." Leo called down.

The two children eagerly unzipped the fronts of the snowsuits to the waist, and grinned contently when the cool air breezed through their layers of clothing and placed a soothing touch on their warm skin. They resumed their hike together, and when they reached the top, Wyatt hauled the inner tube toward Piper and stared up at her sternly.

"You're acting like a girl, mom." He said bluntly.

Piper raised an eyebrow and bumped Leo with her elbow when she felt him laugh behind her. "As of the last time I checked, I _am _a girl, Wyatt."

Wyatt shook his head, "No, you're _mommy_; you're acting like a girl like the ones in my class."

"It's true mom." Chris chimed. "You haven't even gone down once."

"It's cold." She defended.

"Only 'cause you're just standing there."

"He's right, Piper." Leo began, in the somewhat superior tone Piper recognized as his lecture mode. "Your blood circulates faster when-

"Yeah yeah. I get it."

"I'll go down with you if you're scared." Wyatt volunteered with no small amount of chivalry.

Piper continued to make excuses, but she ultimately found herself agreeing to a run down the hill. After all, it wasn't going to be much longer before they had to return home, and opportunities like this were rare. It was Chris that had wanted to turn it into a race, and she had readily agreed, pulling Wyatt into the inner tube with her even as Leo began vehemently protesting the unfairness of her taking the tube and leaving him and Chris with the crazy carpet that was really just a glorified sheet of plastic.

His arguments fell on deaf ears… as they usually did once Piper had already made up her mind about something.

"Honey, you're holding us up." She pointed out, inching the tube closer to the hill's point of no return.

"Don't worry daddy; this one goes fast. I beat Wyatt twice with it."

"It was once, Chris." Wyatt objected.

"Twice, Wy."

"It was once." Leo grumbled, sitting carefully on the carpet and gripping his young son tightly, "And I'm just saying, Piper, you're half my size. Logically it would make more sense if-

"Ready? Go!" Piper exclaimed quickly before pushing them off, much to Wyatt's delight and Chris' indignation.

He sighed as Chris protested. He should have seen that coming. He pushed them forward and soon realized Chris had been right about the speed of the carpet versus that of the inner tube; if it wasn't so difficult to control, he was willing to bet they would have passed Piper and Wyatt already. As they neared the bottom of the hill and finally began to overtake his wife, the carpet disappeared from beneath them, and the momentum pitched Chris and Leo forward to land unharmed – but hardly dignified – in the slightly sticky snow before tumbling to a stop.

"Hey!" Chris sputtered.

Slightly dazed, Leo picked himself up while Chris did the same, and he watched Wyatt and Piper exchange gleeful high fives. He rolled his eyes and pulled Chris onto his shoulders to speed up the process of walking to the bottom of the hill, glad that he had chosen this isolated location. He had picked the spot specifically because he knew there were no people for miles in every direction, and temptations like the one he suspected Wyatt had just succumbed to didn't have to be a big deal.

When they finally found themselves before Piper and Wyatt, his wife and son were still sporting giant smiles and fighting to control their laughter.

"You told him to do that." Leo accused, only slightly feigning the outrage that came through.

"I would never!" Piper giggled.

"It was an accident." Wyatt grinned.

"Daddy and me win." Chris said firmly. "It doesn't count when you cheat."

"See? Look what you've done; they're becoming just as petty about winning as you are."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Wyatt," she commanded firmly, even though the softness of her mouth and her sparkling eyes told her son that she didn't mean it. "You can't use your powers for competitive purposes… that's personal gain."

"Never again, mom." Wyatt swore solemnly.

Piper then turned her bright smile her husband's way, "I think he's learned his lesson."

Chris climbed into the tube with Wyatt and Piper and put his snowy mittens on her cheeks, grinning as she flinched and moved away his hands.

"Baby, that wasn't very nice." She groaned.

"You let Wy dump me in the snow." Chris returned indignantly. "That wasn't nice either."

Piper did her best to look apologetic. "You're absolutely right. Truce?" She offered him her own gloved hand, and he shook it seriously.

Wyatt had scrambled eagerly out of the tube and energetically launched himself at his father, and Chris soon decided that he would rather be romping around in the snow with Leo and Wyatt than sitting still with her. Piper smiled as he clumsily made his way over the side and carried himself on heavily burdened legs to the spot where Leo was patiently showing Wyatt how to make snow angels.

Then she frowned, trying to calculate exactly how long they had been out there. Sundays had become one of her favourite days of the week over the years, but with Leo's death a new Sunday tradition had begun; and it had all but sucked the life out of the family day for her. Sunday was the day early dinner was held at the manor, but it had also become the day Piper, Phoebe and Paige dedicated countless hours to finding the demon that had so successfully flipped about their lives. She was reluctant to bring him up, especially now, but the sooner they were rid of him, the sooner she could relax slightly and begin her second chance at a life with Leo.

"What time is it?" She called, finally climbing out of the snow filled tube to join their party.

Leo looked up from the tunnel they had just begun digging and answered her distractedly. "Here or home?"

She rolled her eyes, "Home, Leo. Why would I care what time it is here?"

"Umm, close to two I think." He laughed as Wyatt tackled his brother, and the two of their mouths opened and closed in shock as the cold snow fell down the backs of their coats.

"We should go home." She made the suggestion as gently as she could manage, but three bright coloured sets of eyes gave her nearly identical looks of complete disappointment.

"Sunset is less than an hour away honey." Leo said lightly, "We'll leave as soon as it's over. You can actually see the stars here without going to the top of a bridge."

She shook her head, "Paige and Phoebe will be home in a couple hours. We need to get back."

"Can we come back after?" Chris asked hopefully.

"Buddy this was a special sort of treat, okay? We're not going to do this all the time."

"Maybe we could skip dinner this week; there's still time to call…" Leo tried diplomatically.

"Honey," Piper sighed, squatting down to zip up Wyatt's jacket. "This has been fun, and I'm glad we did it. But we never did vanquish Lisgav, and we haven't been able to find him since… you know. I don't want to leave either, but we really should try to stay alert."

Leo frowned. In all honesty, given everything he had been subjected to, everything he had found to worry about, the demon that had indirectly ended his life had completely escaped his mind. It seemed too far away from him to even process, but he doubted it stood the same way for Piper. Vanquishing Lisgav wouldn't have brought her closure, but the demon was still a loose end, and Piper _hated_ loose ends. There was indeed cause for concern; nothing good ever came of demons dropping off their radar… Lisgav would come back with something equally effective, if not more. Piper was right… this had been a welcome break from reality, but the truth of the matter was, the world hadn't stopped spinning in honour of his reunion with his family. Demons still conspired, people still needed help… they still had duties.

"You three haven't found any trace of him at all?" He asked as he shook the snow from the sledding devices.

Piper's eyes flashed briefly, "Phoebe stomped him pretty good. He's probably going to wait for our anniversary or something. I wouldn't put it past him to find a date like that and aim for it. I'm surprised he let Christmas go; we were kind of hoping he'd try."

Leo chose not to respond to that cynicism, well aware anything he thought to say would sound too over-optimistic for her liking. Instead, he passed her the carpet and held the tube in one hand while reaching for Wyatt with the other.

* * *

With Leo's return, a dam of sorts had broken, and all the negativity, all the doubt that had been circling through all three sisters' minds, came rushing to the surface. Piper had felt so guilty even briefly thinking about the futility of their efforts, she had swiftly buried her feelings of hopelessness and returned to the topic at hand. Phoebe and Paige hadn't wanted to risk Piper's wrath by appearing anything less than vigilant in their quest to find Leo's killer, but as the weeks had flown by, it had become increasingly difficult to maintain an unrelenting, tenacious attitude to find a demon who had managed to drop off the face of his own world as well as theirs. Now that Leo was back, there was nothing keeping them in check from releasing a month of frustration.

"This is hopeless." Phoebe muttered dejectedly.

"What's even the point?" Paige agreed.

"I don't know what else to try." Piper admitted, slumping onto the couch. "I'm completely out of ideas."

Leo sat a little straighter on the bar stool and frowned. "You can't give up."

"We're not giving up, Leo." Piper defended tiredly, "We're just exhausted. And a little annoyed."

He hopped off his seat and relocated himself beside his wife, who smiled gratefully when he took her hand in his. As he rubbed the pad of his thumb over the back of her fingers, he forced himself back to their crisis and away from the alluring scent of Piper's shampoo.

"Maybe you should try approaching this from another direction."

"We've _tried _all the directions." Paige replied impatiently. "All we've got for it is a whole lot of nothing."

"Try not to lose heart; a month really isn't that long… Zankou gave you the run around for the better part of a year. With The Source, it was even longer."

"Honey, neither of those examples ended on particularly high notes." Piper pointed out, drawing up her legs and leaning back against his shoulder.

Leo shook his head and stood, unbalancing Piper and leaving her to fall back into the cushions.

"I'm not going to let you guys wallow; come on. Paige, what's the simplest, most obvious explanation for _the Charmed Ones_ being unable to find someone, despite scrying and spells and all the other methods that usually work."

"He's being protected by something, or someone." Paige responded easily.

"And what's the definition of insanity?"

"Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result." Phoebe chimed.

Leo nodded. "So…?"

"We look for the power behind his power." Phoebe started. "But we already tried that-

"But we never tried it in reverse." Paige began slowly, "Protection spells and cloaking work when you try to offensively penetrate them, or seek them out. But the magic itself is still useable."

"What are you talking about?" Piper asked warily.

"When demons get their hands on amulets and the like, our powers don't work on them. But once they use _their own_ power against us, we can turn it." Paige's tempo picked up speed as her mouth fought to keep up with her mind, desperate to put out the words before the thought was lost. "Like, Phoebe; once the demon throws the energy ball, you can still use your magic to channel their powers, and send it back and kill them. Or even you Piper; fireballs still freeze, you can still blow them up. When the action's defensive it's not perceived as a threat, and our magic still works."

"But you can't defensively hunt demons." Piper scoffed.

"No but you _can_ trace the magic. The demon is protected, but the magic is neutral; just like it all is, right? We can turn it. If he's using it, we can find it; and through it, him."

"That's a reach at best."

"It can't be that simple." Phoebe added, equally skeptic.

"It's something different." Paige shrugged, "We can work on the logistics. But it's a step in a new direction. It can't hurt."

They continued to stare at her, unconvinced even though neither of them would say it, and Paige rolled her eyes. "This is coming off the top of my head, people. Like I said, I know it's rough, but we have to be able to manipulate it… I mean _they_ do it all the time. They steal our powers, and use our spells against us… the forces are neutral until one of us gets a hold of them. Look at how many times we've let the book get stolen from us! I mean, no offense to us or anything, but for something that's supposed to be a hundred percent protected there are quite a few loopholes. I'm not saying we actually use evil magic, that never ends well for us, but we can track it. Just to get to him. "

"Paige is right in a sense; I realize the whole point of creating a magical cloak is to keep from detection, but if you could figure out an indirect way of approaching it, there's a chance it could work. And if there's a chance, you three will find it."

"You're doing it again!" Phoebe suddenly announced joyously, throwing her arms around Leo's neck and squeezing tightly. "Oh." She sighed happily, "I've missed that."

"I haven't done anything." Leo laughed as he tried to disengage her grip.

But, as was sometimes the case when it came to the Charmed Ones, his voice went entirely unheard.

"Maybe we could start by-

"Right! So we'll need-

"Uh huh. Which is-

"In the kitchen, I know."

Paige would be hard-pressed to believe that when she was especially excited, she adopted the same sentence finishing habits that drove her so mad when she saw it between her older sisters. Leo watched in amusement as the younger two tripped over one another in their eagerness to make it through the doorway, and with the suddenly silent room he was hit by the draining effects of their whirlwind energy. When he turned back to Piper, she was staring up at him with wonder shining in her dark brown eyes.

"What?" He asked self consciously.

"You're amazing, that's all."

He grinned and stuck his hands in his pockets before walking back to the couch he had so recently abandoned, and collapsed into the seat beside her. She automatically folded her body anew and set her head against his chest, and they both absently listened to the distorted voices they could vaguely discern drifting up from the main floor. Wyatt was loudly voicing his discontent with something, maybe someone. He could hear the tone of his son's voice rather than the actual words, but that was enough.

"I'm realizing something." Piper's soft-spoken words brought him back from his vague concentration on the argument downstairs, and some of the marvel faded away from her voice as she tilted her head sadly. "I've changed you."

"What?" His brow furrowed and he pulled away slightly so that he could see her face, "When? How?"

"I was afraid for you, all the time. I've always been afraid of losing you, but when you lost your powers, I let that fear take over. And in my paranoia I made you sit in the corner, and I pretended I was only doing it because someone needed to watch the kids, because you would be in the way, because I didn't want you crowding me, because it was logical… and I made you see yourself as less useful."

He gave a puzzled shake of his head, "No you didn't."

"I've never really thought about the influence I have over you." She said thoughtfully, "I know you love me, and there are things you do because you love me, but I've never thought of that as influence; that's just… how we work. I've always thought about the things you can make me do; the way you can make me feel. I've always had insecurities, and you've always been so, so _confident _that it's never once occurred to me before right now that I could possibly affect that."

The guilt echoing through her tone was staggering, although she seemed resigned as opposed to upset, and Leo's frown deepened as he tried to read past her words to everything she wasn't saying. It wasn't generally this difficult for him to keep in tune with her train of thought.

"Piper, honey I really don't understand what's bringing this on."

"When you first became mortal you were a little insecure, which was completely justifiable, and I made it worse by shipping you out all the time. And then you got so accustomed to leaving us to do our thing, I think we both forgot that magic had nothing to do with the effect you have on all of us. It's all you. It's always been all you. We've run in to our fair share of whitelighters, and none of them could ever do for us what you could."

"Is this all because I whipped out a clichéd expression? Because, usually you kind of hate it when I do things like that." Leo joked.

"Don't laugh it off." She scolded, nudging his thigh with her knee. "You open your mouth, and you inspire such confidence and hope in us; we're all so deeply affected by you… I'm sorry we've gone so long without that because I pushed you away."

He did his best to keep his face impassive once he caught on. It _had _been difficult, in the very beginning, but Piper's actions were almost always driven by love; oftentimes especially when she was determined to hide behind anger and annoyance. He didn't hold that against her. It had been a long time ago.

"I didn't realize you had." He smiled.

"Yes you did." Her disagreement was soft, but certain, and she stared him directly in the eye. "Looking back now… you definitely did. And you never said a word. Not after the dollhouse incident anyway."

"I know you love me." He shrugged, "And I love you. And I chose not to let it be more complicated than that. You were afraid; you would never be intentionally dismissive."

"You chose wrong. You can't let me do things like that, Leo. I count on you to give me a swift kick in the ass when I deserve one."

Tell-tale stomping was heard, drawing ever nearer up the attic stairs, and Piper and Leo looked up expectantly, waiting to see which of their boys was set on entering the room as dramatically as they could manage.

A few seconds later Wyatt came into view, and he continued to stamp his tiny feet all the way over to the couch, where he came to a stop, crossed his arms and frowned furiously at his parents.

"Can we help you?" Piper asked with a laugh.

"Chris is stupid."

"Here we go." Leo muttered. Piper stifled a new burst of laughter, and Leo asked the question he knew Wyatt was just waiting to hear. "What did Chris do?"

"He's making Laura copy everything I say. And then I told him to stop and he said make him. So then I said I would, and then he said he would tell, so I said _I _would tell, and then he made Laura say-

"Where are your uncles?" Piper interrupted curiously. Last time she checked, watching the kids meant dealing with their squabbles too.

Wyatt sighed, "Uncle Coop is talking to Auntie Phoebe and Auntie Paige, and Uncle Henry said to solve our own damn problems or he's going to put us outside."

"Wyatt Matthew." Piper reproached with slightly exaggerated shock, "Don't repeat that word."

"Which one?" Wyatt asked, widening his eyes into the portrait of perfect innocence.

"You know exactly which one I mean young man, come here."

She untangled herself from Leo and pulled Wyatt in between them with exaggerated effort.

"If Chris follows me up here and brings Laura, I'm going to hit him, mommy." Wyatt said seriously. "And I don't think I should have to go to timeout."

She rolled her eyes and pinched Leo lightly when he began to laugh, "Now listen here mister, you hit your brother, that's exactly where you're going. I don't like all the hitting you two have been doing recently, hear me?"

Wyatt heaved another theatrical sigh, "Yes, mom."

Sure enough, within a matter of minutes bright lights began to fill the attic, and Chris appeared in the centre of the room with Laura beside him. Wyatt immediately tensed, and Leo placed a restraining hand on his son's arm.

"Chris, how many times do I have to tell you to use the stairs?" Piper asked.

"But Laura's not allowed on the stairs, and you said I can't go up with her by myself."

"I'd prefer if you didn't orb with her either, okay? Wait for a grown up."

"But I'm good at orbing. Just as good as Wyatt."

"I know sweetheart, but not with the baby; it's dangerous."

It was true that in the past few months, Laura had become a pawn in Wyatt and Chris' endless games with one another of both the friendly and not so friendly variety. As the little girl's vocabulary began to expand, with expected childlike curiosity the boys had taken to speaking slowly in a way that allowed her to absorb their sentences and repeat them back. It had been innocent enough at first, but as Laura's memory grew sharper as well, the sentences became longer and less good natured. Wyatt and Chris seemed to take turns picking fights with each other without any feasible reason their parents could see. Today, apparently, it was Chris' turn. On the positive side, Laura's continuing ability to make the beginnings of conversation was slowly lowering Wyatt's stubborn dislike of her solely on the basis of her being female and a baby. It wasn't unusual to happen upon Chris doing his best to entertain her, but especially within the last few months, Piper had stumbled upon Wyatt doing the same when he thought no one else was around.

Laura teetered over to the couch and lifted her arms up to Leo, who obligingly moved her onto his lap. She squirmed comically until she was facing Wyatt, and then she put a hand on his thigh for balance.

"Love." She said loudly. "Love Wy."

Wyatt smiled in spite of himself, "She said my name." He said excitedly.

"She's said your name before." Leo smiled.

"Yeah but not right. She always said it wrong before."

"See?" Piper took advantage of a rare opportunity to try and influence her stubborn son's opinion. "She's going to look up to you her whole life; you should do your best not to let her down, Wyatt."

"What about me?" Chris demanded.

"You too." Leo appeased.

Chris grinned and took a running leap at the couch, and Piper deftly moved Laura out of his path before he could accidentally crush her.

"Silly boy."

"Silly boy is right." Piper murmured. "You doing okay sweetheart? Are your cousins playing nice?"

"Nice." Laura agreed. Then she shakily stood on her aunt's lap and placed a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

Piper accepted the messy token of affection with a smile, and she cuddled her niece close as she leaned against the back of the crowded couch and listened to Leo and the boys converse beside her. She should be downstairs helping her sisters; they had a lot of ground to cover. The sooner they took care of their demonic situation, the sooner she could enjoy scenes such as this one without the added guilt of knowing she should be doing something else.

"Don't worry, you'll get him."

Leo's voice penetrated her musings, and she felt the expected jolt pass through her that came almost every time he seemingly read her thoughts. He was waiting for a response, staring at her as Wyatt and Chris continued their animated discussion – their earlier argument long forgotten, as was usually the case between the inseparable duo – and she forced herself to smile back, because really, there wasn't any doubt in her mind that they would. Her fear lay in the innumerable ways everything could go wrong; of ways her precious family could be hurt before they finally succeeded. She had learned to live without her sister, she would have _had _to learn to live without Leo, but she wished with all of her heart that she hadn't had to lose them in the first place. She wanted to come out of this with everyone she loved intact for once.

* * *

The winter holiday passed swiftly; Christmas, followed by New Years, followed by an abrupt return to a reality comprised of a cacophony of class trips and plays and chaperoning and bands and schools of both the magical and normal variety.

A part of Piper wished she could simply become comfortable in the familiarity of her family's busy schedule... she was nearly certain Paige and Phoebe felt the same way. But they had learned hard lessons over the years about becoming complacent when demons went underground; choosing to abide by the philosophy that they could wait to address the problem until it resurfaced without actively seeking it out always left them unprepared, and quite often blitz attacked. No, she wouldn't allow herself to relax entirely. Paige's idea had merit, the three of them agreed on that, now it was a matter of finding the right method of seeking out Lisgav's hole. They would only get one chance, and this time, they would be careful. They would be patient. She would force herself to wait no matter how much she wanted to just take the first half-assed spell Phoebe could dream up and move forward.

For Leo's part, he was still in the honeymoon phase of his reinstated whitelighter status. He was well aware that it was only a matter of time before the headache of it all came rushing back, but for now, he would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying the old, magical, team-like closeness he had shared with his wife and her sisters for so long. And Piper hadn't been far from the truth; it brought about a certain confidence, especially where Chris was involved. He constantly stressed about screwing up with his younger son; he worried about ruining the love and admiration between them permanently in the way he had apparently managed to do before. He would pay close attention to the emotions of his boys by any means available to him, and he wouldn't screw it up. The chance to be with his family again was worth an occasional interference from the Elders.

* * *

**January**

Chris sighed and tapped his shoes together beneath his desk as he ran a toy ambulance back and forth without much enthusiasm. Miss Julia gave him a smile from her desk, and he did his best to return it, but he didn't like that he was the last person to leave. Daycare was only fun when there were other kids, and there weren't any right now. Miss Julia had tried to call his mom, and then she had told him his dad was already on his way; he had nodded his head without telling her that she was wrong. That his dad was at Magic School. That he always got picked up by the same parent that dropped him off, and today had been mom's day.

He heard footsteps pounding down the hall, and he sat up alertly in his seat. That sounded just like…

"Wyatt!" He exclaimed happily.

Sure enough, Wyatt turned in the doorway seconds later. "Hey Chris."

Leo wandered into the room soon after and immediately winced when he took in its near emptiness. His own regret wasn't good enough for Chris, who placed tiny hands on equally tiny hips and glared at his father as best as he could from three feet down.

"You're late." He accused.

"I know buddy. I'm _so _sorry. It took your mom awhile to get a hold of me. I came as fast as I could."

He turned to the daycare worker and repeated the apology. "I'm very sorry." He said sincerely.

"It's alright." She laughed, "Everybody gets one. Just don't let it happen again."

"It won't." Leo assured. "Ready to go?" He directed the second part at Chris, who was struggling to pull on his jacket.

"Where's mommy?" Chris asked curiously.

"She had to go to work. You're coming back with me."

The boys clung to their routines, and it saddened him that they assumed something was wrong the instant the slightest deviation came into play. It saddened him further to be forced to acknowledge it had been the case on enough occasions to keep the assumption from being entirely paranoid. He picked up his son while Wyatt placed Chris' backpack on his own shoulders.

"Say bye to Miss Julia." Leo prompted.

"Bye Miss Julia." Chris obeyed brightly.

"Bye Chris. See you Thursday?" She looked to Leo for confirmation, and he nodded his head quietly while allowing Chris to answer.

"'Kay."

Wyatt skipped to keep in step with his father, and Chris waited until they were a safe distance from the room before he examined Leo's face carefully.

"Did something bad happen again?"

Leo fought the urge to roll his eyes as he watched Chris scrutinize him as if he were already expecting to be lied to, but before he could speak, Wyatt jumped in instead.

"No, mommy's really working. Dad was late getting me, too. We're going to Magic School."

"But she never leaves until after dinner on days when she takes us to school."

Leo unlocked the jeep and opened the back door, allowing Wyatt to jump in first before placing Chris inside.

"She needed to go take care of a band."

"Daddy can mom make breakfast tomorrow even if it's her birthday? You never do it right."

"Hey." Leo began, feigning offense as he started the car, "You guys are the helpers. If it doesn't turn out as good as mommy's, it's your fault too."

"I don't like the present we picked out anymore." Chris stated.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well," Chris chewed his lip thoughtfully, "Mommy has lots of pretty things that sparkle and smell already… we should get something different."

"Like a dog?" Wyatt volunteered hopefully.

"Yeah!" Chris agreed with enthusiasm.

"Nice try boys." Leo returned with a laugh. "I don't think she'd like that very much."

"We could give her a baby." Chris suggested next.

Wyatt gave him a withering look of disgust, "Chris, we talked about that before already, remember? Mom said she doesn't want any girl babies. We've got Laura."

"No, _you _said that. Mom said _we'll see_, and that's different."

"We'll see means the same as no."

"No it doesn't, right dad? That's not what it means."

It was possible there was a grand design in existence that did, on the rare occasion, actually get things right. If he had got his way all those months ago, he would have left Piper pregnant and alone – again – and who knew what kind of complications that could have caused. Piper's previous pregnancies had proved rocky enough, Chris' worse than Wyatt's, and the last one had been such a close call, he didn't want to dwell on how dangerous a third, extremely stress filled pregnancy could have been. He was glad things had worked out the way they had… relatively speaking. And now, now he could almost find himself thinking along the same lines as Piper. He had just got his family back… he still couldn't quite believe it had all really happened sometimes. He was happy with what he had. It was no longer the right time... apparently it never had been. Could he continue to live contently knowing he had let the chance to bring another baby into the world, another perfect piece of his wife, pass by him? Could he look back ten years from now without regretting the decision to just let the issue rest between him and Piper, never to be addressed again? He looked at his two miracles sitting in the back, and the answer was yes. Immediately yes. Undoubtedly yes.

"Dad? Daddy I'm talking." Chris repeated.

"Sorry. Uh, it doesn't _always _mean no, but in this case, it probably does."

Chris sulked back into his seat, while Wyatt grinned victoriously.


	18. Chapter 18

Hey there! Chapter 18 picks up where the last scene of Chapter 17 left off. I've got maybe six pages left to write of the entire story, soo I'm officially over my hump :) . Parts of this chapter and the next are kind of disjointed, but it should all make sense in the end. Thanks! Hopefully you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 18**

When they reached the manor, Leo rushed them into the house and tossed a random selection of snacks into Wyatt's bag before taking a hold of his sons' hands and beginning to orb. He would say this, orbing made for a lot less hassle when traveling back and forth from school. He stopped mid-orb when Chris pulled his hand away.

"I wanna do it myself."

Leo rolled his eyes, "Chris, I don't really have time to play right now…"

"Can we have a race?" Wyatt asked excitedly.

"Yeah!"

Leo shrugged, why not?

"Go for it."

The boys grinned merrily and disappeared; Leo sighed and followed suit.

* * *

Wyatt and Chris instinctively orbed to the great hall, Leo having painstakingly trained them out of their habit of orbing into classrooms mid lecture. The room was empty, and they were waiting patiently for their father to arrive when the far oak doors opened and one of the professors entered the room, attention enraptured by the textbook in her hands. It was Leo's orbs that caught her eye, and she looked up from her book just in time to see him appear next to his sons.

"It was supposed to be a race, dad." Wyatt complained, "You didn't even try."

"You forgot your backpack, buddy; it's got all your stuff in it." He handed the backpack to Wyatt and then straightened when he saw the secondary adult in the otherwise empty room.

"Hi Claire." He greeted with an easy smile.

"Hello." A strand of strawberry blonde hair had fallen free from her french twist, and she tucked it behind her ear before kneeling down in front of Wyatt and Chris. "And here are two witches I haven't seen in a very long time! Wyatt, Chris, you guys are getting so big!"

Wyatt beamed proudly and Chris offered a shy smile before tugging insistently on Leo's pants until Leo picked him up.

"I'm in real school now." Wyatt boasted, "I don't have to come all the time until I'm older."

"I see." She nodded seriously, "I guess that means we won't be seeing much of you either come September, huh Chris?"

"No Miss Scott." Chris answered politely after Leo gave him an encouraging bounce. The three small words seemed to take everything out of him, and he buried his face in his dad's shoulder while firmly clutching fistfuls of his shirt. Leo rubbed a reassuring hand on his son's back and smiled.

"No magical mishaps while I was gone?"

"None." Claire laughed. "Jennifer Carter managed to get herself stuck temporarily on an in-between plane, but we figured it out."

"Can I go watch?" Wyatt begged, "Please? I won't try anything, promise. I'll just watch the big kids."

Leo shook his head. "Not today, Wyatt. All the teachers are too busy to keep an eye on you. If you can play in my office while I work for _one _hour though, you can come watch my class."

"But it's boring in your office." Wyatt complained, "You always let us watch."

"That's because usually you're here after the semester is already well under way."

"He can come with me, Leo." Claire volunteered. "Chris too of course, if he wants."

"What are you teaching?" Chris asked in spite of himself.

"Invisibility, among other defensive tricks." She replied with a wink.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked.

She nodded, "Absolutely. I trust you two can sit in a classroom of older kids without at problem?" She fixed them with mock stern glares, and Wyatt nodded eagerly. Chris squirmed until Leo put him down.

"I'm not surprised." She commented, taking Wyatt's outstretched hand and leaving Chris to keep attentively by her other side. "I'm sure I don't need to worry about boys as mature as you… you'll be as big as your dad before anyone knows it."

Chris marched enthusiastically alongside Claire and Wyatt, quiet but content, and Leo was rendered paralysed in the middle of the hall. _You'll be as big as your dad before anyone knows it._ The words echoed cruelly in his head, and his magical honeymoon period came to an abrupt end before Claire made it through the door with his sons.

With her friendly words, Leo was suddenly hit with the realization that as things stood now, Piper wasn't the only one he was going to outlive; he was going to outlive his boys as well. He had always thought of immortality in terms of Piper, even the first time around. Back then, he hadn't been able to picture Wyatt as anything but a baby, and up until now, he hadn't thought of his children as anything but thigh-high kids who couldn't even fully read or write yet.

Maybe if he hadn't given up his powers, this revelation wouldn't have caught him so unawares, but he _had _given them up, and he had lived a normal life with his wife and sons, and he couldn't fathom going back. No, he would _not _roll over and accept this fate. He would clip his wings. Again. The thought of having gifts, the thought of continuing on as a magical being, it sickened him. He knew the Elders; he knew this inevitable certainty hadn't escaped their minds the same way it had so _stupidly _escaped his. Well they could just go to hell; he wasn't keeping these powers.

He thought back to a time when he had been blissfully unaware of how far off course a magical destiny could run a person; to a time when Piper was pregnant with Wyatt and they had been so happy, and so unaware of what was to come. He thought back to Sam and to standing in his shoddy motel room with Piper trying to persuade him of the Elders ultimate good intentions. How naïve they had been. Sam was a better man than him; if two people, two _kids _in the grand scheme of things, ever approached him with that kind of superiority over issues they clearly couldn't truly understand, he would be tempted to lay them flat.

He had pitied Sam, pitied his inability to get past his hurt and anger and do the job Leo had been so proud at that time to do. Pitied his bitterness. Piper had pitied him too; one sidelong glance at her expressive brown eyes had been all he needed to know that. She had sympathized, and Leo had felt the twinge of pain that had shot through her like a current when she briefly envisioned, at Sam's prompting, being forced to give up the child inside of her, but she had pitied him. And six years ago, neither he nor Piper had even considered the possibility of Sam being right. Neither he nor Piper had known that you were screwed no matter what you did, because what you wanted in your life didn't matter when They had something different in mind.

He certainly wasn't disillusioned anymore.

As badly as he wanted to orb Up There and demand they clip his wings at that very moment, he couldn't leave his sons here without him. And Piper was busy. Really, he had no choice but to pretend that he was okay, and retreat to his office. So he took a page out of his wife's coping book, and he pushed the issue to the back of his mind until there were so many other issues in front of it, he could deny its existence for awhile.

Not forever, not even for long, but just long enough to make it through today.

As always seemed to be the case when one reached a near breaking point, when the mere thought of having to make even the simplest of conversations with another human being was enough to make a person's skin crawl, the number of staff that appeared out of nowhere, slowing Leo's escape to his office, was substantial. Karen needed new books. Jacob needed specific stationary. Charsandra needed to complain about Karen. Then, the moment he finally settled behind his desk, orbs began to flit playfully about the office. He threw down his pen and hoped to God it was one or both of his sons, because right now, those were the only two people with orbing capabilities that he could handle seeing.

When Paige appeared before him, the heavy sigh rushed forward before he could suppress it. He loved Paige, but right now, he wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with people. She hadn't done anything to him, and already he could feel the beginnings of annoyance stirring. Leo needed to talk to Piper, it was that simple. And yet it wasn't. Because needing Piper, depending on Piper, was part of the reason he currently felt the way he did.

"Morning professor."

With her typical enthusiasm, Paige threw herself into the chair across from him and kicked her legs absently back and forth over the arm. He did his best to smile.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

Paige checked her watch without much concern, "I just left about twenty seconds ago. I've got a full fifteen minute break to kill."

"That doesn't really explain what you're doing here." Leo pointed out.

Paige fixed her face into a passably blank expression and then turned wide, seemingly innocent brown eyes his way. "Can't a girl choose to spend quality time with her brother-in-law?"

Leo rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Whatever you've done, can I just please, for once, not get dragged into it?"

"Oh come on Leo, you being a whitelighter isn't any fun unless you're scrambling to try and clean up our messes. It'll be just like the good old days; I miss the way your voice used to get all squeaky when you were on the verge of freaking out about something."

Paige stilled her restless legs when Leo visibly flinched and broke eye contact. He seemed crushed. She knew she wasn't always tactful, but she was observant; before now, there hadn't been any indication that he was less than happy. He was with Piper; being together was all that had ever mattered to either of them for as long as she'd known them. The thought of him once again being under the Elders was less than appealing, but all things considered, it wasn't an entirely terrible trade off. Any negatives should be outweighed by the simple fact that he was here again with them.

"Was it something I said?" She asked, adjusting her body and sitting properly in the seat.

Leo shook his head, "No." He muttered into the desk.

Paige almost laughed. Almost. He looked so boyish when he brooded. So… Wyatt-like.

She nodded her head as her eyes drifted to the ceiling and she contemplatively chewed her lip.

"Soo how long are we going to sit here in increasingly awkward silence?"

This brought a full out smile to Leo's face, "I'd say about thirteen more minutes."

His eyes twinkled and Paige laughed and tilted her head, acknowledging that she had, quite fairly, walked directly into that one.

"Damn, I'm slipping in my old age."

"Sure. Rub it in." Leo murmured ruefully.

Paige quirked an eyebrow, "Is that what this is about?"

He wasn't going to complain about this. He wasn't going to whine. He was simply going to wait until Lisgav was vanquished and the girls calmed down, and then he would clip his wings. Easy. Except there was a bad feeling coursing its way through his entire body that said it wasn't going to be. So when Paige continued to stare, he began to cave.

Leo fiddled absently with the letter opened on the corner of his desk, and then his eyes strayed to the clock: 1:52pm. Maybe if he put it off long enough, Paige would have to go back to work before the discussion went anywhere. His eyes strayed to the framed photograph on his desk; the proud, proud father's day gift from his boys the previous year. Piper had later told him that keeping Chris and Wyatt from excitedly, prematurely delivering the gift the night before had been a chore and a half, but she had finally settled them by promising them they could have at it the moment the sun came out the next day. The boys had taken this literally. By their standards, no-longer-midnight-black was equivalent to sunrise.

"_Daddy look!"_

"_We picked it all by ourselves! Mommy didn't even help; not even a little! Open it!"_

"_Chris stop helping! Mommy said! Let daddy do it."_

"_I'm not helping! I just wanna see!"_

They had grown so much in only a year; it was difficult to consciously take notice until he was faced with a physical reminder of the children they used to be. Wyatt was shorter, Chris was slighter, and it would have been physically impossible for their carefree grins to grow any wider. He wondered how many moments equally as precious as this one went undocumented in a day that would become lost within memory.

Paige glanced at the photograph she had seen dozens of times before; the photograph Wyatt and Chris reminded her that _they _had given Leo every single time she found herself in his office with the two of them. Despite her slight confusion she couldn't help but smile when she looked at the ecstatic faces of her nephews captured on the glossy sheet of photo paper. Here, they were frozen in time. Much like Leo was in reality.

Understanding donned.

"You're afraid of outliving them."

He didn't answer her, but she knew. Of course he was afraid of outliving them; she could hardly believe it had taken so long for that particular Whitelighter side effect to occur to her. If she was berating herself this badly for it, she could only imagine the level of irritation Leo was harbouring toward himself.

"We're not going to let that happen, Leo." She swore solemnly.

Leo wished he could have her confidence.

"I feel… helpless again all of a sudden. And stupid, for enjoying the convenience of being magical without really concentrating on what They would be getting out of it. I really thought it was over… that we might actually be done waging war against our own side. Ridiculous, right?"

Paige shook her head. "As a general rule, you're not expected to be constantly suspicious of people on the same team you are. Let's face it; we just seem to have extraordinarily bad luck where the Elders are concerned. You were thinking about Piper and your sons; you can't be blamed for simply embracing being back with them any way you could manage."

"I can't believe I fell for it." He confessed bitterly. "All that aside, I should have known better."

"So clip your wings again." Paige put forth passionately. "Fuck 'em."

Fuck them indeed. But it would be selfish for him to give them up now; Piper had been so centred, so balanced since his return, and the stress of worrying about him in a mortal state with Lisgav still at large would probably overtax the fragile calm she had finally found for herself.

"It could be beneficial to have an extra healer around until you three manage to vanquish Lisgav."

It was a logical response, although to both of them Leo appeared to be making an effort to convince himself of his words more so than Paige.

"So keep them until we kill him. We're close; I have this feeling, and you know I'm usually right about that kind of thing. Come back for this one last demon, and then go Up There and tell them 'thanks, but no thanks.' I'll go with you so that they can't leave you stranded somewhere."

"What if they won't do it? Falling from grace isn't going to be an option this time; I'm not one of them anymore, I'm not powerful enough to get rid of my powers myself. What if, after all of this is over, they refuse to clip my wings?"

Paige, for once, lacked an immediate answer, and Leo knew the truth. They were all powerless. Puppets. The best he could do was hope they'd be willing to let him go, and considering the circumstances, considering the lengths they had gone to in order to bring him back, that would be a slim possibility at best.

He cleared his throat and resumed his uncomfortable fidgeting with the stray tools adorning his desk. "I've seen all of you come back from the brink of death so many times, and I know it's not any different from what you experience, but keeping rational doesn't come as easily to me as it used to, and it's only become worse since we had Wyatt and Chris. When Prue died… Piper was wrong in assuming that I saved her because we're married; I tried my best to save them both, but that being said, I've never stopped being glad that I _did _manage to save her. And Chris and Wyatt…"

His voice trailed off and he glanced wistfully one more time at the photograph.

"Look at them." He said softly. "I want to watch them grow up. I'm _excited _to watch them grow up, but I don't ever want to see them older than I am. I've outlived enough people, I've been to enough funerals; I don't want to bury my own kids."

"You're not going to." Paige said firmly. They could figure out a way around this. They had to. Leo was supposed to be the optimistic one; as much as it drove her crazy sometimes, past experience had proven that things really only got worse when he joined their cynical ranks. The family needed balance. If they all kept to the same end of the spectrum, it wouldn't be long before they killed one another.

"What are you thinking?" Leo asked warily.

She tilted her head to the side, and then shook it slowly back and forth. "It's probably better you don't know." She answered honestly.

"It's never comforting when you say things like that."

"I could lie to you." She offered.

Leo chuckled, "That's alright… knowing you, it's only going to be a matter of time before it comes out. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be in the form of a literal explosion this time."

"Oh please." Paige rolled her eyes, "I'm so past that."

Feeling more like himself, he accepted what he couldn't change – for now – and locked the dilemma in the back of his mind. The day would be over in a few hours… he could take his sons home, drag his wife away from the club, and revel in their company without thinking about any of this. They had about ten other issues that ranked more important than his to deal with first, and he would be patient as the list was tackled one problem at a time, and wait.

"You've got about five minutes left." He pointed out, glancing at his watch. He no longer had to fake a light tone, and he was suddenly glad that Paige had decided to visit. "What was the real reason you came by?"

Paige shifted in her seat once again and frowned. "Is there a Wiccan festival or equinox coming up?"

"No," Leo answered slowly, squinting in concentration. "None that immediately come to mind."

"Planet alignment, eclipse, meteor shower; any of those supernatural, cosmic alliance things that always find us and screw with our powers?"

Leo's brow furrowed and he sat more alertly in his chair. "No. Why?"

"It's just, my powers have been… off." Her frown deepened and she leaned forward. "I've had to concentrate a lot harder than usual on simple magical tasks lately… and I've been super tired, which is so not even remotely like me."

"Well those things tend to affect all three of you, and Piper seems fine. Have you talked to Phoebe?"

"Yeah, and she hasn't noticed anything weird either, but I just have this feeling that something isn't right."

"Maybe you're getting sick." Leo suggested.

"I don't feel sick…" Paige's voice trailed off as she thought intently, "just… wrong."

Leo ran a hand through his hair, "This is not a good time for you to be losing control of your powers, Paige."

"You're telling me."

"Okay." He let out a deep breath, "You go back to work, I'll see what I can find in the library."

Paige nodded. "Thanks Leo. Are we still meeting you guys at P3 tomorrow night?"

"As far as I know. I don't think Piper's going to want to stay out too late; she's already asked the boy down the street to babysit for a few hours, but she's understandably not quite at ease leaving Wyatt and Chris unprotected right now."

"Alright. Until then, I vote we keep this between us? I don't want her worrying about me on her birthday."

Leo nodded his agreement. "Sure."

She vanished as quickly as she had come, and Leo was once again left alone with his thoughts. In the absence of Paige's light, offbeat personality, the darker reflections threatened to assert control once more, and he sighed, flipping the picture frame to rest face down on his desk, before he stood up and went to check on his sons.

* * *

"Alright, that's perfect." Piper adjusted the telephone, pressed firmly between her ear and shoulder, and then jotted a quick memo to herself on the sticky pad atop the large calendar on her desk.

She turned her head toward the door at the sound of the handle in motion, and the corners of her mouth automatically turned upward when it opened a crack, and began to drift closed once again before Chris threw his body solidly against it and managed to make his way inside. He waved shyly when he saw that she was on the phone, and she returned the gesture with a bright smile and a wave of her own before blowing him a kiss.

"Okay then. I'll touch base with you in about a month? Excellent. No, that's plenty of time. Alright… you too. Bye."

She hung up the phone and immediately swivelled around in her chair to face her younger son, who had patiently perched himself on the couch against the wall.

"Hi mommy." He said cheerfully, jumping off the couch and bounding toward her.

"Hi baby."

Piper met him halfway and lifted him onto her hip, sighing contently when he gripped her collar tightly and pressed a kiss against her cheek.

"Where's your brother?"

"With daddy. I ran ahead."

The words were barely out of his mouth before the door handle turned again, and Leo entered the room carrying Wyatt on his back.

"Hi honey." She greeted, tilting her head to accept his warm kiss.

"Hi." He breathed back with a smile.

"We're kidnapping you." Wyatt informed her seriously.

"Is that so?" She asked, slowly raising an eyebrow.

All three of her boys delivered identical Cheshire cat grins, and she gave Wyatt a soft smile as she cupped his cheek with her free hand. Wyatt and Chris' eyes danced with excitement, and she could feel Chris' tiny heart pulsing rapidly against her chest. Sending them to magic school put them on fiercer highs than sugar; she was willing to bet they would crash before she even had dinner on the table. The energy they burned off there was good for them, she supposed, but it didn't change the fact that she often couldn't suppress the twinges of guilt that came over her when she saw the joyous effect being more or less free from the burden of responsibility had on them. It didn't seem fair to demand that they work so hard to be less than themselves on a daily basis. They were well adjusted, she rarely doubted that, but seeing their eyes sparkle the way they did now... sometimes it made her wonder.

"Yep." Chris added. "You're coming home with us."

"Soon." She promised softly, brushing Chris' long locks out of his eyes. "Very soon."

Wyatt squirmed to keep his grip on Leo's neck, and Leo obligingly hiked his son's frame higher on his back.

"How soon?"

Piper rolled her eyes, "Fifteen minutes. Is that okay with you, buddy?"

They nodded as she and Leo set each of them on their feet, and as they raced toward the door Piper silently hoped they would keep their play to the stage and stay away from the bar. They were rarely intentionally disobedient, but oftentimes, some way or another, they _did _break things. They were too young to have figured out how to operate the spouts on the alcohol, so that wasn't a concern, but they had broken the bottles more than once in their attempts to "play" with them.

"Try not to make a mess!" She called just before the door shut.

"Yeah right." Leo smirked.

She bit her lips together, trying not to smile. "Thank you for picking them up for me."

"Not a problem." He pulled her into a hug and firmly pushed all concerns regarding immortality once again to the back of his mind. He had always been able to simply enjoy holding her in his arms; now he wasn't sure whether holding her was making it better or worse, and he hated this new uncertainty.

"That was a dirty trick." She murmured into his chest, "Bringing them in here with you."

He chuckled. "What can I say? I wanted to ensure my wife came home at a decent hour tonight. It's her birthday tomorrow."

"Believe me, she knows." Piper quipped, "Don't remind her."

Then her eyes brightened as she thought to the phone conversation she had just ended.

"Congratulations." Leo said suddenly.

She frowned, "For what?"

"Die Mannequin. Paige is going to be thrilled."

She pulled herself back from him slightly, puzzled. It was true, she _had _just booked the band, and it was also true that Paige would most certainly be thrilled, since they happened to be her latest obsession, but she hadn't had a chance to tell him that yet. She had barely had a chance to _think _about telling him before he congratulated her.

"How did you know that?"

"Know what?"

"About Die Mannequin; that they were coming here."

It was Leo's turn to frown and he met her eyes with equal confusion, "Weren't you just talking about it?"

Piper shook her head slowly back and forth, "No."

"Weird." Leo reflected absently, then he shrugged. "You must have mentioned it earlier… I'm sure you've talked about it before."

"I guess." She agreed unconvincingly.

The connection between Leo and herself had always burned iridescently; the longer they stayed together, the stronger it grew and the fiercer the hypnotic magnetism became. She was accustomed to feeling his presence, feeling his moods, and when he had been her whitelighter, her heart had fairly ached under the intensity of it all. When she had allowed herself to think about him during their separation – which hadn't been often – she had wondered how he had managed to stay away from her when there had been this _hole _so prominently left inside her own body. How he could have felt that same ache, and hers on top of it, and not come home. And then the insecurities had factored in, because she had known that if it were up to her, she wouldn't have been able to exhibit the same restraint; she came to the conclusion that for him to be able to, it must have meant that whatever it was she had felt, he hadn't felt it on the same level. Later, she had known something was wrong when he became an Avatar, _felt_ something was wrong long before he finally decided to be honest with her, but she hadn't been able to place it at the time, because they had been living separate lives for so long, fighting what had always been between them, and it hadn't come as easily as it would have otherwise. Then he had lost his powers, and as they had tentatively adjusted to being together Elder free, the familiar pull had come again. It had been different for him, that much she knew, and different for her on certain levels as well, but within the last few years they had become so much a part of each other they were prone to communicating entire conversations without more than a handful of words.

"Leo?"

"Yes?"

"I know you can sense me; _feel _me and what I'm feeling when you want to, just the way you could when we first met. But…"

"What is it?" He asked gently, sliding his hand up and down her side.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and frowned, "Is it… the same, now, as it was last time? For you?"

He stopped short, unable to describe the change he felt any better than she could. "I don't know." He answered eventually, "I feel as if it's different… as if it's _brighter_. It's hard to explain."

She nodded. "I've been wondering if there's really a difference, or if it's all in my head. If this is the way it was the first time and we've just gone so long being emotionally connected without being magically connected, I forgot."

Leo shook his head confidently. "I don't remember this. I would have. It's constant now, whereas it used to only be when you were very strongly feeling a certain way, either good or bad. Now it's… overwhelming to the point of distraction." He finished honestly.

She looked relieved, "So it's not just me?"

"No, Piper." He laughed. "It's definitely not just you. Wyatt and Chris… I don't think they're exceptionally aware of it yet, but I get the feeling that they have this sixth sense for each other that goes deeper than even the one between you and your sisters."

"I get that feeling too." Piper agreed. "The way they look at each other sometimes… it's like, that connection you hear about twins having, only amplified to a certain extent because they're so powerful."

"Maybe that's what's going on with us." He shrugged his shoulders again, "Or something similar, anyway. We've only grown closer, and now that we both have powers again, maybe the presence of magic's heightened everything. What I _do _know is, that first night they sent me back, I felt you; not even remotely clearly, but given your spell, I shouldn't have been able to pick up anything. At the time I assumed there was something wrong with the way you worded it, but…" he paused. "Sometimes I almost feel like I _hear _you."

Piper absorbed this theory and chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, and then a loud crash from the bar decimated the silence. She groaned and rested her forehead against Leo's chest.

"Why do I never learn not to leave them unsupervised here?"

Leo ran a hand soothingly through her hair. "Maybe it's not that bad." He said optimistically, "It sounded like a chair."

Before she could reply, a second crash echoed through the door, this one unmistakably the sound of glass shattering.

"Mom!"

The two voices bellowed for her in unison as she exchanged a look of alarm with Leo before they hastily made for the front of the club.

* * *

She needed to keep her hands busy, because _that _feeling was beginning to settle in again. A few hours earlier, Piper had been cleaning up the tumblers Wyatt and Chris both claimed the other was responsible for dropping, and only after the pieces had been dumped in the garbage had she realized her heart was racing. She had heard the crash, and while logistically, she should have assumed it was mischief at the hands of her sons, there was a part of her that had immediately expected demons.

It had stunned her. Saddened her. Angered her.

Three years. It had been nearly three years since demonic interference had been a seemingly daily reality. And in the time since, she had worked _hard _to move forward; to fight panic, to be happy, to embrace life as it came, and she had been making progress. Her setbacks were admittedly more frequent where Leo was concerned, but she let her kids play and explore and she did a damn good job of not smothering them.

She thought back to the way she had been when Leo was first returned to her. To the weeks her mind went into overdrive and she had panic attacks every time he was out of her sight. To when she had cried when she was with him and cried when she was without him because it had _hurt _so badly either way. She thought back to that year, and she knew she wasn't that girl anymore. But her biggest fear was regressing. Going back to that dark place and being that person that wasn't her and _knowing _it wasn't her, and yet being powerless against it.

She rummaged through the cupboard and muttered to herself over the disarray. None of the spices were where they should have been. Those boys. Their _Fantasia_-esque antics were getting old, and she was sure Leo wouldn't think it was so cute if they were screwing around in the garage instead of in her kitchen. Where the hell had they hidden the oregano? Just as she was about to begin hollering for Wyatt and/or Chris, two arms took hold of her waist and she inhaled sharply almost at the same time as she froze the figure. Grabbing the nearest knife from the counter, Piper manoeuvred herself away and whirled around.

Leo.

She rolled her eyes and was a moment away from unfreezing him when the sense of déjà vu hit her, leaving her suddenly unsure. The knife flipped between her hands; back and forth, back and forth. Had he changed clothes?

Piper's face set with determination and she ran the blade deeply over his outstretched arm. Then she stepped back, ready to attack should it prove necessary the moment she unfroze him.

"Ow!" Leo examined the wound in surprise as he stumbled forward into the space where she should have been, "What'd I do?!"

Piper startled and then fixed her hands angrily on her hips, "How many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me?"

"I didn't!"

"You changed your shirt." She accused.

He frowned, "Wyatt knocked your tea over on me earlier, remember?"

Her face flushed as it came back to her. Damn it. She pushed past him to the sink and washed his blood off her knife.

"Do you think about that day?" Leo asked softly, leaning against the counter beside her and resting a hand lightly on her hip.

"I don't know." She sighed as she turned off the faucet. "I know it's ridiculous. But a little bit of me, a _very _little bit mind you, kind of thinks this all started here, with me. And maybe it could have been avoided if I had just been paying attention that day."

She tossed the knife in the draining bin and forced herself to still her hands, then she turned to look him in the eye. "Is it weird that I don't remember much from that night? Everything up to you…dying, is crystal clear, and then I remember waking up on the other side of the room and seeing Phoebe's face, and that's all I can really hold on to. I don't remember showering, but I must have. And I don't know what happened to those clothes, to all the blood in the attic… I'm sure Phoebe must have taken care of it, but it's not there. I couldn't think until Paige brought Wyatt and Chris back and I, turned on again, somehow."

"You were in shock, Piper."

"I've spent almost three years battling this crippling fear of losing you, and then you were gone, and it's all… I'm afraid of starting all the way back at the beginning again. It's taken me forever just to get to here. I can feel myself getting more anxious… I hate this. I hate this!"

Leo cupped her cheek, "You're being too hard on yourself. The fact that you're even talking about it should be proof enough of that. Trust me when I tell you that this is entirely different than the last time; _you _are entirely different. And you're far too stubborn to get pulled back to any place you don't want to go." He smiled.

"Today at the club-

"I know." He answered. "I saw it. But that was a normal kind of jumpy for the Charmed Ones; every slight bang used to bring the three of you running with vanquishing potions. When the situation settles, so will you. I think _I've_ had more anxiety issues than you this time around." He admitted.

She rolled her eyes, "Well whatever's going to happen is going to happen; years of unchecked panic on my part didn't keep you from dying again."

"That's exactly what I mean; we've all told you that, you've told yourself that, and it hasn't made a difference before now. Maybe losing me helped you also lose whatever's been holding you back from dealing with this entirely. You're getting past it. Just like I always knew you would, even though you doubted it."

He tugged on her belt loop and she willingly allowed herself to be drawn against his body, and then she exhaled slowly into his shoulder. "You're not allowed to die just to prove a point anymore, okay?" She murmured seriously.

He chuckled, and Piper's heart fluttered when she felt it against her chest, the way she now remembered feeling it that rough, messy night she had been so sure she was dreaming. Knowing this time around that it was the real thing made it so much better.

"Deal." He agreed.

* * *

He didn't bring up his revelation at Magic School, despite the fact that up until that point he had been waiting all day to be able to talk to her; to have her make everything seem okay in that way she was much better at doing for him than she had ever been at doing for herself. It was stupid of him, that he knew; nothing good ever came from trying to keep secrets because the other could always tell, and then it created an awkward tension between them that they both had to try to ignore until the difficult partner was ready to talk.

They tucked the boys in together and she turned in early, but his mind was racing so fast he could barely keep himself inside the house; trying to climb into bed and staying there would have surely driven him past the brink of his sanity.

So, instead, Leo found himself pacing the upstairs hall; walking between his bedroom and his children's, unconsciously guarding them from something he didn't know, hating the dark and the stillness and what it did to him. The next time he walked past Chris and Wyatt's room he cracked the door open carefully and stepped inside, and he watched them sleep while he leaned against the desk placed in the corner across from their bunk bed. Their digital batman clock cast a faint red glow across the room, and the numbers mocked him; 11:43pm. It wasn't even midnight yet. He had hours of mindless pacing throughout the halls to go before the manor came to life once again.

Wyatt turned over on the bottom bunk and hit the wooden guardrail with a thump, and Leo wondered how many times a night those slender sheets of wood saved the boys from tumbling to the floor.

The jingle surprised him.

At first, his head turned comically about the room as he tried to place the direction of the noise, and then he remembered. He relaxed against the desk and listened absently, considering ignoring Them simply to be spiteful, but in the end, he again thought of Piper. He didn't want to give them any excuse to pull him away from her on her birthday. Besides, maybe Up There was exactly where he needed to be right now. They wanted to talk to him? Fine. There was a lot he wanted to say to them too.

* * *

"You called?" Leo enquired stiffly as he came to form in one of the many bright chambers.

"You answered." Odin stated, surprised. "I must admit, I didn't think it would be that easy."

"Well, here I am."

Odin observed him critically, yet silently, for once, and then he cleared his throat. "We know the Charmed Ones are already aware of the mounting threat against them, but there's been an uncharacteristic stillness in the underworld as of late… it unnerves us. Whatever he has planned for your witches, he's going to do it soon."

Leo nodded his head, "I'll tell them."

"That's all for the moment."

He expected Leo to orb away immediately; the dislike between them was mutual, and while the boy may have been better at disguising it, Odin doubted he would spend a second in his presence longer than he had to. Instead, Leo stood straighter and looked him dead in the eye.

"I figured it out." Leo said softly. "You never planned on letting me go, did you?"

"No." Odin replied with brutal honesty. "You're one of us, Leo, and that appears to be something beyond your control or mine."

And then Leo was tired of doing the unselfish thing. He couldn't keep these powers anymore. Not even for Piper.

"I need to see Sandra."

* * *

"Take them."

The discussion had been going for what seemed like forever, and Leo shifted on his feet, for the first time becoming less than stoic in his stance as he thought of the passing time. He needed to be home before Piper woke up.

"No one in history has ever been brought back more than twice… if you died again, there would be no returning."

He could accept the certainty of death; this manipulation, he could not.

"Take them."

"We've been watching you, Leo; you've adjusted well. Enjoyed yourself, even." Sandra persuaded.

He shook his head sharply, "Not at the expense of losing them. I want to clip my wings. I _will not _let you just wait for them to die so that you can have me back." His throat tightened and he ran a hand angrily through his hair, "How can you be so cold? These are _lives _we're talking about; human lives. My wife's, my _sons_'."

"Leo, love is a very powerful force, but-

"What happened to free will? I want to clip my wings; _take them_." He interrupted impatiently.

Sandra shook her head in a way that seemed close to apologetic, but it was the kind of apologetic face that meant no amount of pleading was going to change the decision. It meant that even though his heart was breaking, They thought they were doing the right thing and They of course knew best. It was the apologetic face given to children. It was the look Leo had given Chris on Wyatt's first day of school, when Chris finally realized he wasn't going with his brother. It was the look he had given Wyatt when Wyatt had the chicken pox and he had begged his dad to _just let him scratch._ And so he wasn't surprised when he heard the word come out of her mouth.

"No."

He wasn't surprised, but he resented it just the same.

* * *

Leo orbed directly into their bedroom, and Piper immediately opened her eyes and then raised a hand to shield them.

"Really?" She muttered sleepily, "Did you really not think that would wake me up?"

When her retinas stopped burning she squinted into the darkness and tried to find his shadow, and Leo watched her through eyes that had already adjusted to the tint of the bedroom. He watched the irritation fade from her face and he watched her eyes flood with hurt because he hurt, and without a word, without a 'what's wrong,' or an 'are you okay,' she simply did the exact right thing and stretched out her arms, inviting him in to the most comforting space he knew.

He crawled onto the bed and sighed into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, and without relinquishing her embrace she brought herself from beneath the blankets and climbed into his lap. For a long time there was silence, and then Piper raised her head from his shoulder and held his face between her hands.

"Talk to me."

Already he felt calmer, and he took her hands away from his face and held them within his own. "I don't want to live forever. I don't want to live without…"

His voice trailed off and he stopped making eye contact, and Piper suddenly knew exactly where he had been. What he had tried to do.

"Don't think like that." She said softly, cupping his cheek. "We've got a good thirty some odd years to figure something out. Trust me. I like to win; I _always _win."

"Happy Birthday." He murmured absently.

She looked at the clock and saw that it was just past one AM. "Thank you." She smiled, then she pulled him forward and placed a gentle kiss on his mouth, to which Leo ardently responded.

He was rougher than usual, his actions fuelled by desperation and a desire to forget what was inevitable, but she didn't mind. She knew this darkness, and she knew that words were never enough to entirely drive it away. And so she did for him what he had so often done for her, and she raised her arms and compliantly enabled him to pull off her shirt.

* * *

_Whistle whistle whistle. Silence. Whistle whistle whistle. Silence. Whistle whistle-_

Paige had had enough. She flipped on the bedside light and punched Henry in the arm, hard, four times in quick succession.

"Huh? Ow! Hey!" He sputtered, shielding himself with his hands and sitting up quickly. "What's wrong with you?!"

"You!" She snapped, "Knock it off!"

"Knock what off?" He was tired, and now sore, thanks to her, and he couldn't even begin to figure out what the hell was going on. One second he had been in deep sleep, and the next… he glared at his wife and waited for an explanation.

"Your breathing! I haven't slept in days and I'm starting to think it might have something to do with the obnoxious way you inhale! That whistling noise; my God it's like a pitch only dogs should be able to hear except for some reason I can too, and it's driving me crazy!"

He squinted; he was still kind of asleep, and he only caught about half of what she said when she talked like this at the best of times.

"Huh?"

Paige scrunched up her face in fury and punched him again.

"Ow! Stop doing that!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Henry rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and he wondered when exactly it was that Paige had completely lost her mind.

"You're telling me," he began slowly, "that you woke me up at – three thirty?! It's three thirty in the morning, I didn't get home until after midnight, and you woke me up because I was breathing too loudly?!"

Paige tilted her head to the side, and all the anger left her face, to be replaced with a puzzled furrow of her brow. "You're right… that was a little weird, wasn't it?"

"Paige," Henry sighed, "I don't know what your problem's been the last week or so, but if you've got something on your mind, I would really rather you just come out and say it."

"I don't know." Paige replied pensively, "I was just really angry all of a sudden."

"You were angry all of a sudden." He repeated, "That's all you've got?"

"Hey, it happens." She replied defensively, "Piper used to get like that all the time when she was… oh."

"Oh?" He threw his hands in the air incredulously. "You wake me up in the middle of the night and the best you can come up with is 'Oh'?"

"Oooh no."

"Yeah, that's not much better."

The far away, deer-in-headlights look across her face made him pause.

"What is it?"

"I think…" She hesitated, letting the foreign words rest in her mouth a moment longer before she allowed them to slip slowly from her lips, "…I think I might be pregnant."

* * *

The silence was killing her. They had been lying in bed, not touching, for fifteen minutes now. She wasn't sure if Henry was keeping quiet because he was in shock too, or if he was simply trying to keep from displaying feelings one way or another until he was sure what hers were.

"How-

"I don't know." She snapped. The truth was, it was possible she could have missed a day or two back in December, but Henry didn't need to know that. There had been a lot going on, and in her defense, you were _supposed _to be able to make up a missed pill without this happening.

"This is ridiculous." Henry said into the dark.

"Totally." She agreed immediately.

"It's almost four AM."

"Right."

The silence stretched on.

"It can keep until morning."

"Yeah. No big deal."

Another minute passed, and then Henry broke through the quiet for the fourth time.

"You know," He said casually, "That drugstore by Phoebe's is open twenty four hours."

"Is it?"

Two minutes more, and the energy it took to maintain feigned indifference burned out completely. Then both Henry and Paige were scrambling out from beneath the covers, throwing off pyjamas and pulling on the first articles of clothing they made contact with. Henry was pretty sure the pullover he picked up from off the floor wasn't even his. He shoved his arms through the holes, and the sleeves ended just past his elbows; suspicion confirmed. As long as it wasn't neon pink, he didn't care. Hell, even if it was, at this point he wouldn't bother.

"It'll be faster if we orb."

"Do it."

* * *

Twenty minutes, five test purchases, and the most awkward experience he has ever had in a drugstore later, Henry found himself peering over Paige's shoulder, and asking the same question he had asked the last two times before this one.

"Are you sure you did it right?"

"Oh my God, You're unbelievable! For the last time; how many ways are there to pee on a stick?!"

"Well I just thought I'd ask…"

"It _does _say pregnant, right? You're seeing that too?"

He took the test out of her hands, and then his upper lip curled back slightly in disgust when he remembered what he was touching. Paige smirked as he handed it back.

"Maybe you should do another one."

"Henry, I've done it three times; there is literally no pee left in my body. I'm not a guy, I can't just store it up and then go for two minutes straight."

"So you're _sure _you've been doing it right?"

"Yes, I'm sure." She breathed softly against his mouth. Suddenly the happiness bubbled from her stomach and into her throat, and she couldn't keep the news inside of herself.

"We're having a baby." She giggled, even as his mouth smothered hers.

"I love you so much." He whispered huskily, "I love you. I love you."

"I know that, you goof." She whispered back. "I'm pretty fond of you, too."

"Who do we tell first?"

"Everyone. I want to tell everyone."

"Get all the teasing over and done with at one time?" He raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"Pretty much."

"You know, if you hadn't been so against the idea in the first place… if you had just-

"Will you shut up? You're killing our moment."

"I think it's romantic."

"Yeah… when our little one is old enough, we can tell him or her all about the day I told you I was pregnant, and you strutted around crowing, "You should have just given in earlier" like a jackass."

"Way to keep it classy, Paige."

Paige paused, "I know I had some reservations before, but I look at my sisters and their kids… I never thought I'd be able to love any child as much as I love my niece and nephews, but now I kind of feel like I already do. Is that weird?"

"I dunno." Henry replied, "Maybe. This is kind of unfamiliar territory."

"Besides; if something ever happened to you, I'd want to tell stories of you to little versions of us."

"Soo, you're telling me that you're changing your mind about kids not because birth control failed us, but because you're anticipating me dying?"

Paige punched his arm, "You're an idiot."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The sun rose lethargically in the sky and kissed the sleeping city with light, and as the streets came to life around them, Piper and Leo watched their sons sleep from the doorway. There were few things in domestic life that screamed injustice more fervently than being forced from one's own bed by one's children. Piper looked up at Leo and rolled her eyes even as the smile tugged at her mouth.

It had still been dark when the two boys began pounding on their bedroom door, and an exhausted Piper and Leo had tried their best to convince them to go back to sleep, all to no avail. Wyatt and Chris had been wired for sound. Piper had reluctantly given in and sat up after an hour of trying to keep them still underneath the covers, which had meant Leo too was forced to accept defeat and haul himself out of bed to retrieve the gifts Wyatt and Chris were so eager to give her. Soon after the presents had been opened, however, both boys had burned out. Now that Piper and Leo were well past the point of being able to fall back asleep, Wyatt and Chris rested in a dead slumber, turned about in near impossible ways across their parents' mattress.

"I can't wait until they're teenagers." Piper said dryly, "I'm pulling their asses out of bed every day at six."

Leo laughed. "Are we really going to let them sleep?"

"I guess." Piper yawned, "A half hour nap won't kill them… or us. I'm sure they'll have woken up on their own by the time breakfast is ready. I swear, if the energy those two have could be harnessed, the world would have itself a force more powerful than all three Charmed Ones combined."

He was too tired to think of a clever response, so he tried to keep his eyes open as he pulled their door shut, and Piper yawned again beside him.

* * *

They consumed their first cup of coffee slowly as they engaged in light conversation at the kitchen table, languidly making the best of the early morning forced upon them. The relaxed, unhurried exchange almost made it worth being woken at five thirty in the morning. Almost. Once they had both finished, Piper refilled the mugs, and then she drew her hair back into a ponytail and deftly began removing ingredients from the pantry and fridge.

Leo leaned over the island and sipped his coffee, watching her from the corner of his eye and enjoying their comfortable silence. Then he tilted his head and squinted slightly as he caught a flash of discolouration on the skin near Piper's neck when she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Was that a…?

She turned her back to him as she rearranged the pots in the bottom cupboard in search of her favourite frying pan, and he waited patiently for her to come back his way. Eventually, Piper stood up and placed the pan on a burner.

Yes. Yes, it definitely was.

He smirked and stifled his laugh, knowing Piper would find the situation less than humorous. With that thought, however, most of the hilarity melted away for him as well, as it occurred to him that he would be the only person she could be blame for this, and she wasn't going to be at all happy. Maybe he could save himself being yelled at and just not tell her…

Her movements slowed, and he realized he must have been openly staring. Too late.

"What?" She asked self consciously.

"Pardon me?"

Piper crossed her arms across her chest, immediately suspicious. He only played dumb that blatantly when he knew he had done something that was going to piss her off. "Spill it."

"It's nothing." He assured.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"Why do you keep staring at my…" her voice trailed off as his guilty expression tripled. "Oh Leo, you didn't." She gave him a pleading look and then wiped her hands off on her jeans, rushing into the hallway to the mirror mounted on the wall. He hurried after her.

"You left a mark!" She complained as she pulled back her hair and inspected the shallow bruise.

"I didn't mean to! I don't even remember doing it; I'm as surprised as you are."

She glared, she didn't see remorse anywhere on his face; he was laughing at her.

"This is not funny."

"It's a little funny."

"Fix it." She demanded.

"Honey, it would be wrong to use magic simply to save yourself embarrassment." He said straight-faced.

Her face contorted in a cross between outrage and indignation, and she smacked an open hand against his chest, "Leo Wyatt, you fix this right now! This is your fault! Undo it!"

"For someone who wants help, you could try asking nicely." He sing songed.

"You can't leave me like this." She rambled desperately, "I have to meet with those parents from Wyatt's class tomorrow… hickeys do not exactly scream PTA Mom!"

"What's in it for me?"

"Your life." She glowered.

As a child, even as an adult, Piper had bruised easily. Soft pinches had always been enough to leave blemishes that lasted for days, much to Phoebe's delight. But with the demon fighting, her skin had toughened. Leo must have caught her in an unusually hyper sensitive place, because while she wouldn't admit it to him, _she _couldn't remember him doing it either. And to leave a mark like the one so prominently displayed at the base of her neck, she should have felt it. The only occasions within the last few years she could remember bruising this easily had been while she was pregnant with Wyatt and Chris, and even that hadn't caused any regular discomfort, because Wyatt had healed her from the womb and as soon as they figured out Chris didn't, they had stuck her in magic school.

And then she froze, because the weeks had been passing swiftly since Leo returned, and she still hadn't had a period. She had briefly, almost absently thought about it the week before, but she had chalked it up to the combination of stress and going off and on her birth control. It had been a logical explanation for her wonky cycle, but with this latest oddity coupled with a few other minor irregularities… her breasts had been a little sore, she'd had some spotting about two weeks ago even though the actual period never came… none of these things were particularly abnormal on their own, but together, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe-

Leo's hand was suddenly near her face and she stepped back with renewed suspicion, "What are you doing?"

"Healing you." He said with a smile, "You kind of look like you might pass out. It was funny for awhile, but I _would _like to have sex again in the future. I don't want you holding this against me."

"Umm, thanks." She said absently, standing still and allowing him to do his thing while her mind drifted off again. Leo was teaching today, which meant she was taking Wyatt to school, and Chris was going to daycare, so the house would be perfectly empty and after spending minimal time at the club, she could stop by the drugstore and come straight home and-

"So what's the plan for tonight?"

"Huh?"

Leo gave her a slightly puzzled smile, "Your birthday… remember?"

"Right." Focus Piper. "Yeah, of course. I know that."

Suddenly remembering that she had left almost all the elements turned on in the kitchen, Piper quickly walked back, answering Leo as she went.

"Casey's supposed to get here at seven; we're meeting Henry, Coop and my sisters at P3 for seven thirty. I want to go, but I also want us to be back by around ten. We can stay for the band and then be out before it gets too crazy."

Leo nodded his agreement. "Sounds reasonable. Do you want to come to Magic School with me after you drop off the boys? I know it's not that exciting, but at least you won't have to hang around the house by yourself."

She hesitated for a second, and then she forced herself to nonchalantly pick up her spatula and continue stirring the eggs in the pan.

"Can't. I've got a million and one things to get done at the club before Sam Roberts shows up."

"I thought that was why you went in yesterday?"

She bit her tongue. Nine times out of ten they were so busy in the mornings they rarely had time to greet each other before going their separate ways. Naturally, today would be the day Leo had time to remember every little thing she had ever told him in passing.

"That was my plan, but you and the boys came by and I left early, remember? I'm glad I did, but if I'm going to relax and enjoy myself tonight I need to make sure things are in order."

She hadn't once looked him in the eye while she gave her explanation, and when she finally allowed herself to glance at him, it was clear he was less than convinced. As he opened his mouth to respond however, the front door opened.

"You guys still here?"

"Kitchen!" Piper hollered back.

Phoebe came into the room with Laura balanced on her hip and grinned brightly. "Happy birthday, sis."

"Why thank you." Piper curtseyed, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well…" Phoebe squirmed, grinning extra widely in the way that told Piper she was about to ask a favour. "Laura has a cold, so I don't want to take her to daycare, and I was hoping…"

"…that I would take care of her, even though it's my birthday and I've already got more things to do than I can possibly get done in the span of one day." Piper finished knowingly. "You know, I resent the way you guys assume that just because I own my own business, my schedule can be rearranged so much more easily than yours. I have deadlines too."

"You're going to do it." Phoebe informed her, unperturbed.

"Oh yeah?" Piper raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think that?"

Phoebe untangled Laura's arms from around her neck and tried to pass her off to Piper; Laura listlessly allowed herself to be handed over, and then she set her head down heavily on her aunt's shoulder and sniffled.

"Because you love her."

"You don't play fair, Phoebe Marie." Piper said softly, cradling the unnaturally quiet child against her chest.

"Coop said he could come by for her by noon; she'll be out of your hair by the time Wyatt and Chris are out of school."

Piper rolled her eyes and nodded, but she stubbornly refused to return any sort of affection when Phoebe threw an arm around her and squeezed tight.

"You're the best."

"Get off me."

Leo smiled at their predictable exchange, and his conversation with Piper now long forgotten, he glanced at the clock. "I'm going to wake up Chris and Wyatt."

"Thanks honey."

As Leo disappeared into the hall, the front door slammed again; there was no courtesy shout this time, just the pounding of footsteps down the nearly straight path to the kitchen preceding Paige's flushed appearance in the room.

"Guess what?"

"You're pregnant!" Phoebe exclaimed immediately.

Paige frowned as she continued to pant lightly from the dead run she had taken in her excitement from the street to the kitchen. "Wow." She said, deflated. Talk about your serious letdowns.

"Paige, that's fantastic!" Piper laughed brightly, then she paused, "It _is _fantastic, right?"

Paige nodded absently, still reeling from the disappointment brought on by Phoebe's outburst.

"Oh honey." Piper's eyes softened with sympathy, having been on this unfortunate end of Phoebe's big mouth before. Then she turned to glare at her younger sister. "Phoebe, how could you?" She accused.

"I didn't mean to." Phoebe said contritely, "She was just so happy, and then it just sort of came out-

"That's no excuse. You've had control of your powers long enough to know better."

"I said I was sorry!"

Paige ignored her. Instead she looked at Piper. "We did that to you twice?"

Piper shrugged, "To be fair, there were extenuating circumstances."

"Well I guess that's it."

"No no no!" Phoebe said desperately, "I really didn't mean it, sweetie. Tell us everything. This is so exciting! When did you find out? How far along are you?"

Paige reluctantly began to smile; she didn't want to let Phoebe off the hook that easily, but more than that, she really wanted to talk. "At like, five o'clock this morning. Let's just say, I had a Piper inspired epiphany, and then Henry and I dashed out to the drugstore by your condo."

"At five o'clock this morning." Piper confirmed amusedly. Off Paige's nod, she chuckled. "You're insane."

"Did you know that they have tests that estimate to the week how far in you are? It's crazy. It said five/six weeks, but I don't know how far I really trust a piece of plastic I bought and peed on."

"Congratulations sweetie." Piper smiled, jiggling Laura rhythmically as she began to fuss. "I'm so happy for you."

"You're going to be incredible." Phoebe agreed.

"Where's Leo?" Paige frowned.

"Upstairs getting the boys ready."

Her face brightened as she began to back toward the hallway. "I'm going to go tell him. _Myself_." She added, staring pointedly at Phoebe. "Plus, I'm trying to get to everyone I can think to tell before Henry does. We may or may not be keeping score."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Only you two."

Paige grinned and backed out of the doorway, bumping into the frame and causing the swinging door to fall closed behind her. Piper shifted her grip on Laura and continued to stare at Phoebe.

"What?" Phoebe exclaimed, "What would you like me to do about it, Piper? It was an accident."

Piper shook her head. She would keep this pregnancy between her and Leo; she would let Paige have her much deserved time in the spotlight, sharing it with no one else, because while she knew Paige wouldn't be anything but happy for her, she knew equally well Paige continued to struggle, occasionally, with the constant sharing of experiences and seeming loss of individuality that came with having sisters, and Piper wanted to give her this. Piper would do everything she could to keep it from Phoebe. She wouldn't think about babies or pregnancy or anything else that would promote emotional stimulation on a level that would tip Phoebe off to her trying to keep a secret.

If. She reminded herself firmly. _If _she was pregnant. She wouldn't let herself think of it as a certainty. She had, on more than one occasion in the ever distant past, completely convinced herself that considering the signs, she _had _to be pregnant, and when those thin little lines had told her otherwise, it had been devastating. A negative result would be different now; she had two, healthy, beautiful boys, but she wouldn't lie to herself. She would be disappointed. It had been easy to veto Leo's incessant pestering when a baby had just been an idea. It hadn't been real; logic and practicality had said that they already had their hands full with the two children they had, and another child would have further complicated an already complicated life. She _liked _logical and practical. But the thought of already being pregnant breathed life into the scenario and love… and love, in her experience, has never been particularly practical or logical. She could be pregnant. Right now. How could she possibly not feel this instant love for the child she was potentially carrying? _If _she was pregnant, it would remain between Leo and herself. Paige deserved to make hers very public, and Piper deserved to keep it private. For once. For a little while.

"Are you mad at me?" Phoebe asked mockingly, reaching across the counter and stealing a handful of orange pieces from the bowl in front of Piper.

"Would you stop? Those are for the boys. No, I'm not mad. I just wish you would think before you did things, Phoebe."

"I said I was-

"Sorry, yeah, I know. Could you do me a favour and go rush Leo along before you leave? We started off with so much time this morning and we're falling behind."

"Yeah, sure." Phoebe agreed, heading toward the hall. "You know, I was thinking that-

The door swung inward as Paige came charging back in with Leo and the boys close behind, and Phoebe cried out in pain when it caught her square in the face.

"Damn it, Paige!"

"Uh oh." Wyatt said, walking cautiously past Phoebe.

"You're bleeding." Chris observed.

"Yeah, thanks Chris."

"Are you okay?" Piper inquired. Phoebe made a noise that Piper interpreted as affirmative, and she wrinkled her nose, "Could you try not to get blood on the floor?"

"Sorry." Paige cringed. "Here."

Phoebe held a hand under her nose as Wyatt and Chris looked on with morbid fascination, and Paige quickly undid the damage with a steady hand. When she was finished, she rushed for the paper towel sitting on the counter before Piper could complain about the mess.

Phoebe gingerly pushed a finger against her nose and then rejoined Piper at the island. "Your concern for me was overwhelming." She said sarcastically, reaching for another orange slice and successfully avoiding the slap Piper tried to place on her wrist.

"We've got two healers at our beck and call now." Piper retorted with a smile, winking in Leo's direction. "I don't need to be concerned anymore."

Leo swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth and focused on getting Wyatt and Chris situated at the table. He wasn't going to think about it today. He was going to be as unconcerned as she was, and trust in fate, trust in _her _one last time, and believe everything would turn out okay.

Piper handed Laura back to Phoebe so that her hands were free to put food on the plates she had already taken down from the cupboard, and Phoebe glanced at the clock.

"Shoot, I've got to go. Be good for Auntie Piper, okay bug?"

"'Kay." Laura nodded compliantly.

"I love you, baby."

"Love you." She returned with a yawn.

Paige took the little girl out of Phoebe's arms and apologized one last time before Phoebe disappeared out the backdoor.

"Yeah yeah." Phoebe rolled her eyes. She started to close the door behind her, and then opened it once again. "Don't forget to bring those shoes you borrowed to the club with you tonight." She said, pointing her finger sternly at Paige. "I want them back missy. Besides, you're gonna have to kiss stilettos goodbye in a few months anyway."

"Go!" Paige prompted. She shut the door behind Phoebe and pointedly locked it, ignoring the tongue Phoebe stuck out at her through the glass.

"Did you want something to eat, Paige?" Piper asked as she absently steadied Chris' cup of milk when his careless elbow nearly tipped it onto the table.

"No, I ate already." She responded.

She took a seat beside Leo and played distractedly with Laura as she watched the whirlwind that was Piper effortlessly manage to be almost everywhere at once. Piper made it look easy, now, but Paige could remember a time she had barely trusted herself to hold Wyatt without doing it wrong, and she had taken every cry of his personally.

She hated to admit it, but having older sisters did, to a certain degree, make things easier. She knew what to expect. She had had a hand in raising kids the last six years; there were none of the delusions of grandeur Piper had gone in with, nor the false confidence and certainty that had possessed Phoebe before Laura arrived and made it known she had own mind, and she wasn't going to coincide with a single thing Phoebe had learned or planned or read.

This was something that was, finally, not shared by the Power of Three. This was hers. This was going to suck sometimes, and it was going to be amazing others, and she couldn't wait to experiment and screw up in her own ways. Someday, this would all come as naturally to her as it now did her sisters.

Then she realized Leo was watching Piper too. Memorizing her movements and studying her with an intensity that mirrored the bittersweet way he had stared at the picture of the boys in his office the day before. Piper was the heart of the family, but Leo was _Piper's _heart. When Leo wasn't functional, Piper wasn't a hundred percent there either. She could fix this. She _would _fix this.

Laura suddenly sneezed in her lap, and Paige froze when her arm was literally sprayed with a combination of saliva and mucus. "Gross." She groaned.

Leo laughed and retrieved a box of tissue, then he handed it to Paige and took his niece in return. "You'll reach a point when that doesn't even faze you; I still haven't decided if that's ultimately comforting or depressing."

Paige wiped her arm with distaste and threw away the tissue on her way to the sink. She didn't doubt it, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to it either. After washing her hands she picked up a knife similar to the one Piper was now holding, and she began mimicking her sister's cuts as close as she could manage on one of the many vegetables now littering the island.

"What are you doing?" Piper laughed.

Paige rolled her eyes. "It's your birthday and I'm trying to be nice. Don't get used to it; this is a one time deal."

Piper shook her head and refused to engage, but feeling especially flexible today, she allowed the well-intentioned invasion of her space.

Of course, it didn't take long for her to regret the decision.

One moment everything was fine, the next, Paige was dropping her knife and Piper was bleeding and remembering why it was she never let anyone help her.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, staring disbelievingly at the wound on her lower arm. "How the hell did that even happen?"

"Mommy, you're not supposed to say-

"Right. I'm sorry. Paige!"

"This is not my day." Paige sighed.

"_Your _day? It's not your blood spilling everywhere missy. Give me that." She snapped, snatching the knife out of her sister's startled hands. "This is why I don't let you help. Ever."

Paige took the abuse in stride and reached out her hand, but Piper narrowed her eyes and took a step back. "Oh no. I think I'll be just fine without you touching me again."

"Come on, Piper. It's pretty deep; don't be ridiculous. I'm sorry."

"No." Piper responded stubbornly. "I'll be fine. If it bothers me later, I'll get Leo to take care of it."

Leo stood abruptly and handed Laura back to Paige. "I have to go." He murmured. "Congratulations Paige."

Without actually meeting her eye, Leo gave Piper a quick kiss and then briefly touched the tops of his sons' heads. "I'll see you guys tonight, okay?"

"Bye daddy." Wyatt and Chris answered.

Piper's eyebrows furrowed in concern when he orbed out, and Paige stared at her expectantly.

"He's struggling." She sighed. "I'm always throwing fuel on the fire. Why do I do that?"

"You guys will figure it out." Paige assured. "You always do. Even if you come close to killing each other first."

"That wasn't exactly the kind of reassurance I was looking for." Piper said ruefully.

Paige shrugged. "It's the best I got. Here." She handed Laura back to Piper, and the sick little girl began to cry, fed up with the constant shifting of caretakers.

"Okay. Okay, we're sorry." Piper soothed absently, finally holding her arm out to Paige for her healing touch. "I got you, honey."

Paige complied and then began to make her own exit. "I have to run. See you tonight, Piper. Happy Birthday."

Piper sighed as Laura's cries increased substantially, and she was suddenly alone in the kitchen with two young children and a screaming baby. Perfect.

"Come on Laura, sweetie you were being so good."

"No!"

"How come when we say no, we got to time out and when Laura does it, nothing happens?" Wyatt asked.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Drink your milk."

* * *

She sat on the edge of the bathtub and tried not to stare at the counter by the sink, where the test and the timer sat side by side. The house was so quiet the silence almost ached. After Laura's initial fit, which Piper quite frankly didn't blame her for, her niece had mostly slept the entire morning away. When they had left the house soon after breakfast, lulled by the gentle vibrations of the vehicle in motion the screaming had stopped before Piper made it down the street. By the time she reached the club, Laura had barely been able to keep her eyes open. She had pulled the spare cot into her office and laid Laura on the mattress, and the little girl had been out in less than ten minutes.

Coop had come by the club earlier than she had expected for Laura, and that had enabled her to finish quickly and rush home a mere hour after she had arrived. Truthfully, she _had _accomplished almost everything she had set out to do yesterday, it was only the loose ends that needed to be dealt with, and she still had two hours before she needed to head back out and pick up her children.

The ding startled her out of her thoughts, and in the still bathroom the sound seemed to travel forever.

Somehow, she knew before she even looked at the stick. She knew, and yet when the egg timer dinged and she read the words, the soft smile that had already crept onto her face immediately burst all the way to her eyes. Pregnant. She's pregnant. And the timing absolutely could not be worse. And she could not be more glad. She put a hand on her stomach even as she mocked herself for doing so, knowing that the baby inside was most definitely too small for either of them to feel the other. But she did it anyway and pictured herself many months from now when she will talk absently aloud to the child within her every time she is alone, and she would feel this little piece of her and Leo turn summersaults and punch and kick as he or she tests the limits of their uterine cocoon.

And then the bedroom door opened and she froze.

Shit.

She turned in circles, looking between the sink and the toilet and the shower curtain and the bathtub with no real concept of what she was looking for or what she was going to do or how she was going to act normal… and then she closed her eyes and _willed_ Leo not to come near the bathroom. To grab the sweater or book bag or timetable he'd forgotten – quickly – and then head back the hell to Magic School where he told her he was going to be all day. Of course, instead, Leo beelined for the bathroom and tried the door.

"Piper?" He called curiously when he found it locked. She didn't know what had prompted her to lock the door while home alone, but she was glad she had.

"Uh huh?" She called back in what she hoped was a casual voice.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just…" She flung open the cupboard door below the sink and chucked the pregnancy test into the back corner before pulling out the rubber gloves and banging around the cleaning supplies.

He tried the door again, and she jumped up and swung it open, meeting his confused frown with a large grin. "… just cleaning."

"Why was the door locked?"

"Was it locked?"

'Yeah." He said slowly, "You just unlocked it. Two seconds ago."

"Oh. An accident I guess. I didn't even notice. What- what are you doing home?"

"I came to grab my keys… Wyatt's school called my cell phone and said he wasn't feeling well." He paused and frowned as he remembered _why _they had called his cell. "What are _you_ doing home?"

"Well…I…was at the club, where I told you I would be, and then I… finished…so…"

"Have I told you recently that you're a terrible liar?"

His tone was coloured with blatant amusement; God bless Leo and his laidback willingness to simply leave people to their harmless secrets. Instead of making an embarrassing attempt at a comeback, she did the only thing she could think of to distract him. Conveniently, it also happened to be the only thing she wanted to do at the moment regardless. The grin, that in all honesty had never actually left her face, increased tenfold, and the corners of her eyes crinkled in merriment as she threw her arms around his neck with so much force he had to take a step back in order to keep his balance.

"I love you."

The firm kiss she pressed against his cheek wasn't exceptionally passionate, it wasn't remotely seductive, but somehow he felt it throughout every part of him physically and emotionally. If he was ever asked to define love, the closest example of an indescribable feeling would be in that action. He had come to take the connection between them for granted the way it had stood when he was mortal… this, this _magnification _of what had always been there continued to astound him. And it made him smile, because he would have remembered this, he would have _missed_ this, if it had been there the first time around, and so he could look at Piper and see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they had both come a long way.

Before he could spend any more time reflecting on this, or think to return her affectionate declaration, the keys loosely gripped between his fingers were taken out of his hands.

"I'll get him." She volunteered. "You go back to school."

He chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Why are you so happy?" He asked curiously.

Lying was out, so she feigned indignation instead. "It's my birthday. I can be as happy as I want."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "Go. I'll see you when you get home."

"Alright." He acquiesced to her demand with an easy shrug, although he continued to stare at her in that way which never failed to make her feel as if he were looking directly inside of her. Right now, especially now, that wasn't something she wanted to happen.

"Okay." She shifted uncomfortably, backing toward the door, and bumped clumsily into the frame. "I'll just, be getting Wyatt then." She murmured.

Piper closed the door behind her and waited for the tell-tale sound of orbing to indicate he followed her orders, and then in an overt display of ecstasy that was so unlike her, she gave in to the childish desire to skip and spin haphazardly down the long hallway.

* * *

_It's finished._

With those words, the thrill of pleasure had run through Lisgav's spine as the promise of a hunt inched its way closer.

He stood inside the cage and observed the structure the way the Halliwells would once they were trapped within it. All three witches could be counted on to travel in and out of their homes more times in a day than it was necessary for him to keep track of, and now that their prison stood completed, he could wait outside the manor and snatch the eldest on her way in. Being inside the manor itself posed too big a risk; he couldn't so much as shimmer in for a split moment without her son sounding an alarm.

"How does it work?" He asked absently.

The seer looked him in the eye with obvious pleasure from the outside of the cage. With a gentle touch of her hand, the bars before him disappeared.

"Where has it gone?" He demanded.

"It's still very much in place." She smiled, "See for yourself."

He stepped forward and felt a light shock pass through him when he penetrated the area the bars had been before.

"It's part of the very _charming _design. And, as their gifts are stolen away from them, the power is stored within the force surrounding the bars. As they grow weaker, it only becomes stronger. Once you have them inside, no magic will be able to touch it."

"And after they're dead?"

"You can absorb everything it has taken for yourself." She confirmed. "Imagine; the power of the entire Halliwell line as it stands. Far from disappointing, yes?"

"Indeed."

* * *

Piper smiled to herself as she sat in the conservatory, basking in the final rays of the quickly setting sun and flipping through a magazine. She paused for the umpteenth time and took a moment to eavesdrop shamelessly on the conversations taking place in the kitchen. She had been banished by her husband and children following dinner, and while she knew her time would be better spent showering and getting dressed, the bickering in the kitchen was too entertaining to abandon.

They were making dessert, or trying to, from what she could gather. Twenty minutes ago the three of them had rushed out to the store on some top secret mission, and the boys hadn't stopped harping on Leo since they returned.

She could hear Leo's good natured attempts to defend himself. _"You know, you don't actually have to run and tell mommy every little thing."_

"_But it's true, daddy." _Wyatt was arguing back, _"You forgot. And now it's not gonna be right, and mom's gonna know…"_

"_She's only going to know if you tell her."_

She smirked and flipped another page. She was glad Wyatt seemed to have made a complete recovery. He had complained of a headache when she picked him up, but she suspected it had been brought on by a lack of sleep more than anything else. She had put him to bed and cuddled with him until he had drifted off, and when she had woke him again at a quarter to one so she could pick up Chris, he had been quiet, but certainly less pale than before.

It was approaching six o'clock, and she shifted restlessly in her seat. One more hour. One more hour until the babysitter showed up, three more hours until she and Leo could leave P3, three and a half more hours until she could send the neighbour home and check one last time on her boys before turning in, and four hours until she could rip Leo's clothes off – like she's wanted to do since he came home early that morning – and finally, _finally_ tell him about a pregnancy herself.

She caught the beginning of an instruction to Wyatt; _Tell your mother… _she didn't catch the rest, but she didn't have to wait long. Wyatt came skipping into the room dusted head to toe in flour, and she bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing.

"What happened to you?"

"It was Chris' fault; daddy said to pour slowly. Oh, he also said to tell you to go get ready and not to worry about me and Chris 'cause he's going to make sure we have baths and get changed for bed before you go." Wyatt recited in close to one breath.

Piper smiled. "Thank you sweetheart. You be good for Casey tonight, okay? And remember; no magic."

"Promise." He put his arms around her neck and hugged her tightly. "Did you have a good birthday?"

"The best." Piper returned.

* * *

Leo approached their bedroom door with caution. Piper had good moods, Piper had _elated _moods, but behind this one was a secrecy he couldn't place; it unsettled him. It had started at breakfast, and the first time he had orbed home it had been more pronounced, and now…

She had been over affectionate from the moment he had come home that evening. It wasn't as if she wasn't generally warm and generally loving; Piper liked to touch, but… it was almost always subtle. A hand grazing his arm every so often while they played with their children, her breasts gently pressing against his back when she leaned over his shoulder to refill his coffee mug. There was nothing subtle about the way he had found her tongue in his mouth every time they crossed paths tonight. Not that he was complaining about that part.

Still, he wondered how long she intended to keep this up before she talked to him.

"Piper?" He called softly, pushing open the door and entering the room.

"In here."

The muffled voice came from the bathroom, and he turned the knob only to find it locked. Again. He sighed and let his head thump tiredly against the door, hoping desperately this wasn't a preview as to how the entire night was going to go. He didn't have the energy today.

He left her to whatever she was doing and pulled off his water logged shirt. Getting the boys out of the tub hadn't been an easy task, but it was done, and they were in their room, hopefully putting on pyjamas, and in half an hour, he and Piper would be gone.

"Leo? Are you still there?"

"Uh huh."

"You didn't come in."

"You locked the door." He reminded her agitatedly.

Piper paused with the mascara brush inches from her face and turned toward the closed door. Leo was getting irritated, and her teasing was making it worse. Well that was fine, because after tonight, it would all make sense and he would be just as happy as she was. Until then, he was going to have to take it in stride, because she wasn't saying anything until they were alone. Besides, she could tell he was finding it difficult to stay mad at her every time she kissed him. And it was her birthday. The combination of those two things pretty much guaranteed he would go along with whatever she did tonight while refraining from complaining. He could thank her later.

She quickly finished with the mascara, tidied the counter, took a deep breath, and then opened the door.

"Hi." She grinned.

He didn't respond to her with words, but the way his clear green eyes intensified and roamed her body from head to toe – twice – made her feel ten feet tall. She almost hadn't bought it; it was lower cut than the kind of garment she generally felt comfortable in, but when she had seen it at the mall, _felt _it, she had succumbed to the kind of impulse buying she generally only did when she went shopping with her sisters.

The halter style dress was a shimmering black that ended in a diagonal cut from mid-thigh to knee, and tiny sparkling clasps kept the front together, save for the inch-wide gap that began at her sternum and grew ever wider over her breasts. She resisted the urge to pull the material closer together over her chest.

Leo cleared his throat, "You look, I mean, not that you don't always look- because you do, but… wow."

Piper flushed slightly as she smiled; she had the most adorable husband in the universe.

"I can't decide which shoes to wear…" She began, holding up two different styles of black heels.

"Who cares?" Leo murmured.

"_I _care." She emphasized, putting a hand on his shoulder and raising herself up on her toes. "The sooner you pick, the sooner we can leave." She whispered in his ear, "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can come home. And the sooner we come home, the sooner you can give this dress a new home on the floor."

"Piper." He warned when he felt her warm breath on the side of his face, just before she ran her tongue lightly over the shell of his ear. He glanced uneasily toward the doorway, mentally kicking himself for not closing it back when he came in. The last thing he wanted was for Chris to walk past the open door to their bedroom, and file a new embarrassing question about licking away to bring up the next time they had family dinner.

"What?" She giggled. "I'm not doing anything."

"Have you been drinking again?" He joked.

She rolled her eyes, "Funny. Can't I just be in a good mood?" She murmured sultrily.

"I'm sorry for the way I left this morning."

The apology came out of left field, and Piper shook her head slightly to put herself in the mind frame for _that _conversation even as he wondered what had prompted his outburst. It hadn't been something he had meant to bring up, but she just looked so perfect, so happy and beautiful, he had suddenly felt like he needed to let her know.

"It's okay." She said softly, "Honestly, I'd forgotten. You came home, and we're good, and everything else can wait until tomorrow."

The chime of the doorbell resonated through the house, and Piper held up the two pairs of shoes once again, lightening the mood.

"Pick one."

Leo rolled his eyes, "Those ones." He said, gesturing to the pair in her left hand.

She slipped the shoes onto her feet and placed an impulsive kiss on his mouth, and then she pulled herself away and walked briskly out of the room without another word.

"_Mom; the door's ringing."_

"_Yes honey, I hear it; I'm coming. Don't open it without me."_

Leo sighed; here they went again.

* * *

When they reached the club, they kept their hands intertwined as they made their way down the stairs, and Piper allowed Leo to pull her through the throng of people to the alcove where her sisters were already waiting.

"Wow, Piper." Phoebe whistled appreciatively, "Va-va-voom."

Piper blushed and turned her face away, "Don't be ridiculous."

"What? It's about time you let the girls out to play."

"Phoebe, stop talking about my breasts like they're people. It creeps me out."

"Nice shoes." Paige observed.

Piper raised an eyebrow in Leo's direction and he caught the unspoken message.

_See? Shoes matter._

He shook his head. She could have that point; arguing accessories was out of his league.

It wasn't long before the rhythm of the music performed its familiar seduction of the girls, and then all the three of them wanted to do was dance. Thankfully, for Leo, very little dancing was ever required on his part as long as the sisters had each other to keep themselves entertained. Henry and Coop flowed naturally with the music, but tonight, even they seemed content to simply observe from the alcove. There was an energy between Piper, Phoebe and Paige tonight; three buoyant moods culminating in a trifecta of contentment that was so contagious and alluring he continued to feel its effects from across the room.

"So how did your little contest go?" Coop asked Henry with a smile.

Henry rolled his eyes. "You know about that?"

"Phoebe told me." He admitted.

"What contest?" Leo asked, taking a sip of his beer.

"Paige and I couldn't agree on a fair way to split up who got to tell who about the baby, and we knew we couldn't do it together for _everyone, _so it kind of got turned into a free for all."

Leo laughed, "I'm guessing Paige won?"

"Yeah, she won." He confessed grudgingly, "I think I managed a grand total of like, five, before I started hearing, "Paige just told me." And one of my five was the computer tech guy that's only contracted for three days of repairs, so, yeah. Pretty safe to say, Paige won."

"You found out before Phoebe; you should take that as victory enough." Leo suggested with a smile.

"I promise Leo, if I _ever _find out Phoebe's pregnant before she does, I will find you, and let you be the one to blow it." Henry swore, holding up his beer for emphasis.

Leo chuckled and accepted this with a nod. "Congratulations man."

The bottlenecks clinked together, and they both took a long drink.

"So, what about you and Piper? Are you planning on having any more kids?"

Hearing his wife's name automatically prompted him to look in her direction, and Leo couldn't help but smile when he stared over at the bar, watching her laugh delightedly at something one of her sisters had said as they twirled in circles to the music.

"Nah." He said somewhat wistfully, yet the smile never left his face. "I think we're done."

Henry accepted this with a nod, and he too became content watching the sisters play together in such a carefree manner it was near impossible to remember how dangerous they were capable of being.

The hours passed swiftly, and their conversations and dance partners changed in rapid succession in parallel. Finally, they were back where they had started, the men on the couches while the women danced with noticeably less energy.

"Paige is tired." Piper sing-songed as she stepped lightly into the alcove.

"I am not." Paige returned heatedly. "That's all psychological; I'm the same as I was yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that."

"Tired." Piper repeated teasingly.

"Let's go, Sleeping Beauty." Henry grinned, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"I hate you all."

"Please, like we haven't heard that before." Phoebe laughed as she took the shawl Coop was holding out to her.

Piper slipped her hand into Leo's back pocket, and he guided her forward with a hand on the small of her back.

"So you're back to being subtle then?" He murmured in her ear.

"I figure I've embarrassed you enough for one evening." She said back, just loud enough for him to hear.

The couples parted ways when they reached the parking lot, and Piper forced herself to keep to the speed limit on the way home. They traveled in relative silence, settling for the occasional shared smile, and not for the first time, she felt grateful for just how easy being with Leo could sometimes be.

At the next red light, her fingers drummed restlessly in her lap while she waited – impatiently – for the light to change. Leo reached across the seat to still her hands, and she looked at him sheepishly before returning her attention to the road. He could feel her excitement mounting with every block they came closer to the house, although she was doing a passable job of keeping her face nonchalant. When they finally pulled into the driveway Piper quickly put the jeep in park and jumped out, leaving Leo to shake his head amusedly and follow her at a much more relaxed pace to the porch.

The house was dark when they opened the front door, save for the flickering light that indicated the television in the living room was turned on. At the sound of their entrance, Casey wandered in to the hall to greet them.

"Hey Casey." Piper smiled as she shrugged off her coat. "How'd it go?"

"Awesome." He replied, "No disasters of any kind, promise." He held up his right hand solemnly.

"That's great." She laughed.

"They fell asleep like, forty minutes ago." He informed them as he pulled on his own jacket and gratefully accepted the cash Piper held out to him. "Thanks. I'll see you guys later."

"You're walking home?"

"It's only four blocks down Ms. Halliwell." He laughed.

"Oh sweetie no, it's dark out; Leo will take you home."

This course of action had the added advantage of giving her five minutes to change and throw some candles around the bedroom before Leo came upstairs. She was sure she could do much, much better given time, but she could work with what she had.

"Go wait by the car; he'll be right there."

"Thanks again for watching the boys tonight." Leo added.

"No problem."

The door shut and Leo folded his arms as he looked down at her, "More secrets?"

"You'll just have to see, won't you?" She said evenly as she pulled the door open again and pushed him in front of her.

Once they had stepped onto the porch she pulled him toward her by the front of his shirt and gave him a quick kiss.

"Hurry back."

"I will." He smiled.

He jogged down the front steps and she rubbed her arms, then closed the door firmly behind her to keep the cold from seeping inside.

"Bye Ms. Halliwell."

Casey's voice came from beside her, and she startled slightly when he appeared from the shadows on the porch and touched her arm lightly as he moved past her and ran down the stairs after Leo.

"Bye Casey."

Her body set like concrete as she raised a hand to tuck away fallen strands of hair.

* * *

The easiness of it all surprised even Lisgav, although he would never admit it. Freezing was a highly underrated gift. Subtlety; he could appreciate it.

He shifted back into his own form and placed his hand against her frozen whitelighter. This approach definitely won over attacking them when they could retaliate. With ease, he orbed the Charmed One to his side and waved a hand at the house while recited the latin spell aloud. The children were presumably asleep, but in the event that they weren't, he couldn't have them disappearing to the homes of their aunts and tipping them off. No. They would stay trapped in that house until he came back for them. For now, these two were his primary concern. He was off to a good start.

* * *

Piper's eyes drifted unseeingly about the cave as she struggled to put together how she had got here. She had stepped outside for two seconds to kiss Leo goodbye and see him and Casey off. How could she have possibly gone from her porch to the underworld in less time than it took her to blink? She looked to her left and saw Leo jerking his head every which way in a similar manner, but before long the utter confusion left his face, to be replaced with a combination of incredulity and resignation.

"What the hell happened?" She demanded.

"I think you know what happened." Leo stated calmly.

"Frozen? I was frozen?!"

"Sucks, doesn't it? You should keep this experience in mind the next time you feel like freezing one of us."

"Shut up, Leo."

She marched determinedly forward, then she yelped and took an instinctive step back when she reached the mouth of the cavern and an invisible force quite efficiently zapped her. Son of a…

The air in the room displaced as a new figure shimmered in, and Piper immediately felt the same hot rage that had consumed her _that _day in the attic, upon seeing the demon's face for the first time since. He couldn't take Leo again. He would have to kill her first before she would let him have-

She felt Leo's hand on the small of her back, barely brushing the fabric of her dress in a manner the demon couldn't see, reminding her to _think _and not simply _do_,and she breathed deeply in an attempt to calm the sudden influx of adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her tense muscles began to shake, straining to fly into action even as her brain tersely commanded stillness, and Leo's hand stayed where it was.

"You're looking well, Miss Halliwell." Lisgav began amiably. "Much improved from the last time. That dress is stunning."

Leo, acting with years of habit, automatically closed his hands around Piper's and kept her arms pinned to her sides when he felt her temper rising past the point where even he could do anything to stop it. Unfortunately for him, it would never again be so easy to keep her from using her powers. He released an inward sigh as the explosion sounded and Lisgav collapsed on the dirt floor, hissing in pain.

"Stings a bit, doesn't it?" Piper smirked. "Plenty more where it came from too. You should have kept the medallion you son of a bitch."

A second explosion erupted, but to her surprise after the initial satisfaction of the hit passed, Piper felt weakened. Leo immediately grabbed her arm to steady her when she swayed dizzily.

"What's wrong?" He demanded, his voice hardened by concern.

"I don't know." She whispered back.

When Lisgav began to stand she hit him again, hard, but this time she found herself completely robbed of breath almost as soon as the explosion surged forward. Her knees began to give way and she tried to force herself to breathe normally, shocked to no end by just how much that one explosion had winded her.

Leo grabbed a hold of her middle and pulled her against him. "Whatever it is you're doing, it's obviously hurting you just as much as it's hurting him. Stop doing it." He hissed. "It's not worth it."

She thought of Wyatt and the way being pregnant with him had screwed with her powers in the beginning. Chris had behaved himself in the womb; she had almost forgotten. She sent a mental reprimand to the being inside her that at this point, was really just a collection of cells, and hoped she could make it through the rest of the night without a similar episode every time she tried to use her power.

"Feeling a little drained?"

The demon was talking to her, _smirking _at her; he had clearly expected something along these lines to happen. She firmly reminded herself that he couldn't possibly know about the baby, which indicated there had to be another reason why her reaction hadn't surprised him.

"Hardly." She snapped. "Wait until I get started."

Lisgav finally made his way back to his feet, eyeing her expectantly to see if she launched another explosion, and then he took a deep breath of his own to recover from the strength of her attacks.

"You know," He began with his signature smile, "I do quite like you. You're much more fun like this than you were in your attic."

"Don't." Leo commanded softly into her ear. Piper listened. It very nearly killed her, but she listened.

"What we're standing in is a very special cage that I had made specifically with you and your sisters in mind."

Piper looked around her and furrowed her brow slightly; it didn't look like any cage she had ever seen.

"It's been altered, of course. I thought it would be more effective if you couldn't actually see your limitations. You do tend to find your way out of the standard magical bars with annoying consistency. And what you're feeling now, as you try to disguise the fact that you can barely stand, is your magic being quite literally sucked away from you. The cage is designed to gradually steal your powers a little bit at a time; so gradually that you wouldn't actually be aware of it until much, much too late. But, your active use of your abilities speeds along the process to the point where it is noticeable. Painfully so."

"So I'll just stop using my powers."

Lisgav shrugged. "I'm on my way to collect your sisters… and after that it really won't matter. You can use them or not use them in whatever manner you desire; I can be patient. As a matter of fact I'm quite honestly _hoping _that you outlast all the others… I've seen the unequivocal despair in your face caused by the death of your husband, I'm going to consider it a social experiment of sorts to see just how much worse it will be killing your children."

The rage returned and the adrenaline consumed her, called to her, and she couldn't fight it. Not even for Leo, who still had his arms around her waist, and whose grip had tightened so that he was now firmly keeping her in place instead of holding her upright. Either Lisgav had to explode, or she was going to. One way or another this _heat _inside of her was going to come out. Her vision spotted and the next explosion hurt her ears. The walls of the cavern literally shook with its power and pieces of rock and limestone crumbled from the ceiling.

There was smoke in the space that Lisgav had been, and then an unsettling buzzing as his scattered particles reassembled themselves. He came to form in a bloody, scarred mess with clothing torn in some places and flesh torn in others, and then it was a battle of wills between him and Piper to see who would collapse from the exhausting pain of it all first.

He stared at her, and she stared back, and the moment he murmured an incantation beneath his breath and disappeared into the walls, the last of Piper's unrelenting determination faded away, and her legs buckled beneath the little weight of hers not currently supported by Leo.

"Easy, easy."

He set her gently on the ground, pushing her body over her knees and running his hand soothingly up and down her back. "Stubborn." He reprimanded. "Stubborn and reckless."

"Totally worth it." She gasped, locking her hands around her knees.

Leo shook his head. "Unbelievable."

He sat on the ground and pulled her against his body when he felt her begin to cry. "Does it hurt that bad?" He asked softly.

"No." Piper said adamantly, angrily wiping her face clear with both hands, "Wyatt and Chris. I just stepped outside for a moment to say goodbye… I didn't even lock the door. They're in our unlocked house with no one watching them; our babies are all alone. They're going to be so scared."

"They're smart boys." Leo assured. "They'll go straight to their aunts."

He didn't add to that, because he knew she had already finished the sentence with the same thought he had.

_Hopefully in time._


	20. Chapter 20

**Mark:** I just wanted to assure you that you weren't at all dissuasive; you were wonderfully polite and honest in your critique, and you pointed out a few of my weaknesses that become pretty prominent when dealing with a story this size. I oftentimes lose focus, and I'm very easily distracted by random snippets and ideas that pop into my head. Because of this, sometimes I drift towards and away from my storylines in a manner that isn't exactly fluid; it's part of the reason I'm generally an under 50 000 words, short story, one shot kind of girl as far as creative writing goes. Without a structured essay format, I fall to pieces. This story was, however, supposed to be mainly about Piper's issues from the start. I think I should probably revamp my summary at some point, because it may be unintentionally misleading. Chris and Wyatt have their roles, but the story was never meant to be centred around them. That being said, I'm going to work on not letting the ADD go into overdrive, and make a conscious effort to address one thought before skipping around through five hundred million other ones, haha. Thanks.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Chris' eyes fluttered open to the sound of Wyatt's mutterings on the mattress below him, and a yawn escaped as he stretched his tiny limbs and removed the comforter from over his head. He frowned when he saw nothing but darkness in his bedroom; he and Wyatt didn't need a nightlight anymore, but mommy always left the light on in the hall so they could see the way to the bathroom. Maybe Casey didn't know that rule.

He carefully climbed down the ladder and wandered into the dark hallway, but the minute he opened his door, panic began to set in. There weren't any lights on anywhere. There was _always _a light on in the house; even if it was a little one. He made his way down to his parents' bedroom, trying not to jump at all the tables and pictures and shelves that seemed so different at night and almost made him feel like he wasn't even in the right house, and he knocked gently on the door.

"Mommy?" he whispered. When he didn't get an answer, he knocked again, louder. "Dad?"

He dutifully waited a few seconds more, just so that he would be able to tell them that he had _tried _knocking if they asked him, and when there was still no response, he pushed the door open.

The bed was empty. And there were no lights on in the bathroom, and he couldn't hear the shower, so he knew they weren't in there either. Chris frowned, and his heart began to thump in his chest. His parents' room was supposed to be warm, and friendly, and safe. Except now it seemed too cold for him to want to be in it any longer. He wasn't used to them taking so long to answer him.

He orbed downstairs; he knew his mom preferred him to walk, but the time it took to walk from her room all the way to the kitchen just seemed too scary in the dark, and the light switches were too high in the hallways; much higher than the switches in the bathrooms and bedrooms. He was too thrown off by this house that wasn't his to think of using his powers to turn them on.

"Mom!" He called loudly this time, indignantly. "Daddy!"

There was nothing but silence in the manor, and the wind blew branches against the glass, and it whistled through the cracks in the old house, and the stairs made noises as if someone was walking on them, but he could see that there was no one there. His hands grew sweaty as he realized a truth; his mom and dad weren't in the house. _No one _was in the house. No one except for him and Wyatt, and he had never in his life, never ever, been by himself before.

He orbed back to his bedroom and shook Wyatt awake.

"Wy."

Wyatt muttered something that didn't make sense, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Wyatt!" Chris shook his shoulder frantically, and the older boy finally turned over.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Mommy and daddy aren't here."

"I know." He yawned. "They went to P3 to have a grown-up party for mom's birthday. Remember?"

"Casey's not here either. Nobody's here Wy."

Wyatt sat up in his bed, "Huh?"

Chris nodded, his eyes wide with fear. "It's just us and I don't know where everybody is."

Wyatt climbed out of bed and marched into the dark hall, leaving Chris to trail after him. He walked into Piper and Leo's bedroom much as Chris had before, and he faced the same, startlingly intimidating empty space.

"I told you so." Chris whispered off Wyatt's gasp.

"I don't know where they are." Wyatt said, his tone tinged with panic. "I can't tell at all."

Chris took a handful of his brother's shirt, suddenly afraid that if he wasn't touching him, he would vanish into the dark too. "There's no light anywhere. Not the normal kind _or _the magic kind. It's just… black. I don't like it. It makes me feel cold."

Wyatt took his brother's hand. "We can go ask Auntie Paige. And she can get Auntie Phoebe. And then they can both find mom and dad and Casey."

He began to orb, and then suddenly he felt the way he did when he was in the car, and it went over a hill and made him feel like his stomach wasn't where it should be. Before he could cry out, he landed in a heap on the bedroom floor. There was a loud thump, and then Chris landed beside him.

"Ouch." Chris complained, cradling his elbow. "Ow."

Wyatt rubbed his knee and stared about the room in surprise. That had never happened before.

"What'd you do that for?" Chris grumbled, "It wasn't funny. You made me land on my arm."

"I didn't do it. I tried to orb and I ended up on the floor. You try."

They again held hands, and Chris squeezed his eyes tight with additional concentration, but the same thing happened. Again, they found themselves tangled together on the floor, painfully so.

"Auntie Paige!" Chris called loudly. "Auntie Paige!"

They waited for the orbs to arrive, but none came. Another beat passed, and then Wyatt's face lit up. Without taking time to explain anything to his brother, he grabbed Chris' hand and orbed to the kitchen.

"Get the phone." He commanded.

Chris looked at the charger sitting in the corner on the counter, and he obediently beckoned the hands-free set into his waiting hands.

Wyatt dragged the kitchen stool to the fridge and yanked one of the doors open, filling the kitchen with dull light as he squinted at the names and numbers written in his mother's clear printing on the magnetic wipe board. He only knew his own phone number, not his aunts', but he had watched Piper write down all the important ones for Casey before she left.

"How do you spell Paige and Phoebe?" He frowned.

"I don't know." Chris responded impatiently, "You're the one in school, Wy. It starts with a 'P.'"

"That's the easy part." Wyatt snapped back. "A lot of names on here start with 'P.'"

"We could call all of them." Chris suggested.

Wyatt paused. "What if we don't know who answers?"

Chris shrugged. "Then we hang up."

Wyatt scowled as he took the phone out of Chris' hands and began to carefully dial the first number on the list. Doing things the normal way was so much more complicated than magic.

* * *

Phoebe walked barefoot toward the building stairs with her shoes dangling from one hand, and the other hand tucked neatly in Coop's.

"I still don't see why I am carrying your purse." Coop protested.

"What, would you rather carry my heels?" Phoebe laughed.

"You're very funny, Phoebe."

Her cell phone sprang to life in her bag, and Phoebe winced and vowed to change the ringtone to something a little less obnoxious when she had the chance.

"Could you answer that? It's probably Stefanie. Jeez, we're like five minutes late. Teenage girls are getting demanding."

Coop fumbled with the clasp of her bag, and once he finally succeeded in his seemingly epic struggle to get it open, he was then met with another twenty pockets on the inside. "Phoebe, I have no idea which of these is holding your phone."

"For crying out loud, Coop." Phoebe stopped in the middle of the lobby and took the bag into her own hands, rifling through it briefly before her fingers closed around the phone. She managed to flip it open just before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Is this Phoebe or Paige?"

"Wyatt?" She asked, surprised, "Is that you, sweetie? What's the matter?"

"It's Auntie Phoebe!" She heard him exclaim to a third party, and she strained to hear his soft, high voice. "I'm so happy we found you; there were so many numbers and I couldn't read the names 'cause I don't know what yours looks like and there were a lot of "P's" and me and Chris got so scared…"

She heard him begin to cry and she looked at Coop in concern. "Tell me what's wrong, sweetheart. Where's Piper?"

"I don't know." He cried. "I don't know… we woke up and nobody's here, and we tried to orb but it didn't work…"

"Alright, Paige and I are coming, okay honey? Just hang on; we'll be right there."

"Don't go." He begged. "It's dark."

"Don't worry, Wyatt. I'm going to pass the phone to your uncle while I call Paige, okay? We're not going to leave you alone. You can keep talking to us on the phone until we get there."

"'Kay."

Coop, who had been listening intently to Phoebe's half of the conversation, took his cue and reached for the cell phone.

"Wyatt? Hey buddy…"

Phoebe glanced around the seemingly empty lobby, but one look at the security cameras hidden across the ceiling stopped her from chancing calling Paige from inside. She made eye contact with Coop and gestured toward the entrance doors, and he nodded his head, waving her forward with his free hand.

She rushed out of the building toward the decorative trees lining the property, conveniently just outside the view of the cameras, and she rubbed her bare arms against the cold.

"Paige!"

In an instant, her sister was at her side, similarly still dressed up from their night out. "What's wrong?" She demanded promptly.

"Something's happened to Piper and Leo… the boys are at the manor all by themselves; Wyatt called my cell phone. Coop's on the phone with him now. We need to get over there."

"Why can't they orb?"

"Does it matter?" Phoebe retorted, "Wyatt sounds terrified. Piper and Leo can't possibly have been gone long; they live closer to the club than we do, but still. I'd say twenty minutes at the most? If we head over now, I can get a premonition from the manor and we can take the boys back here before going after them."

Paige nodded, "Alright, let's do it."

They raced back to the lobby, and Coop raised his head at them questioningly. Paige took the phone out of his hands.

"… and then Chris said that-

"Wy?" She interrupted.

"Auntie Paige!" He answered, relieved. "Are you coming?"

"We're on our way right now little dude. Hang tight, okay? You just count to five and we'll be there."

"Okay."

"As soon as I get a premonition, we'll bring the boys back here. You keep an eye on them and Laura until we get back." Phoebe instructed Coop as Paige hung up the phone.

"Got it." He nodded seriously. "Be safe."

She gave him a quick kiss, and then she and Paige sprinted for the tree line once more.

* * *

"You let them hang up?!" Chris cried out in disbelief.

"Paige said they're coming!" Wyatt defended.

"But-

The bright lights that represented the only thing currently familiar or warm to them inside the manor finally began to fill the room, and both boys felt their panic begin to fade away as the house slowly became theirs again.

Phoebe and Paige barely had ample time to come to full form before their nephews launched themselves into their arms.

"Hi." Paige laughed, pulling gently on Wyatt's arms tightly locked around her neck.

"It's alright, sweetie." Phoebe cooed in Chris' ear.

She put him down and glanced around the kitchen, then she touched the handle on one of the cupboards and allowed herself to be sucked in to the scene.

_The demon waits patiently outside as Piper and Leo come home, yet he makes no attempt to stop them as they walk past where he stands and enter the house. The boy from down the street, the one who babysits for them every once in awhile when she and Paige and Henry and Coop and Victor are busy, comes outside and Lisgav springs into action, knocking the teen unconscious before he even knows what's happening. The body is thrown into the bushes and then the demon morphs into his form as the door opens once more and Piper and Leo step outside…_

The entire scene played out before her in seconds, and Phoebe shuddered as she was abruptly pulled back to the present. She looked to Paige and confirmed for her sister what they both already suspected. _Lisgav_. They wouldn't say the name aloud and risk a freak out from one or both of the children, but they knew.

"Casey?" Paige questioned.

"We're going to need some memory dust when this is all over."

Paige could accept that. At least the kid was alive.

"He never once tried to come inside; he wouldn't risk it." Phoebe looked pointedly at Chris, and Paige nodded her head.

"Alright guys, let's get out of here." They each lifted a child, and Paige put her hand on Phoebe, only to attempt to orb and come crashing to the ground in the exact same manner Wyatt and Chris had before.

"Damn it." Paige muttered, picking herself up off the floor.

"Told you." Wyatt said. "Orbing doesn't work."

Paige hadn't really thought that far ahead. In the two seconds she _had _spent thinking about it, she had thought back to the boys being trapped in the underworld that last time. The cage the demon had used then had been strong enough to keep Wyatt and Chris contained, but it hadn't been any match for her. She had - apparently foolishly - assumed that the same rules would be applied here.

"What do we do now?" Phoebe asked.

"Did you guys try the doors?" Paige asked Wyatt.

"No." Wyatt answered sheepishly.

The side, front, and back doors were all sealed tight, and an angry growl welled in Paige's throat. "Well this is just great."

"Mommy took a shower before her and daddy left." Chris said suddenly.

"Chris." Paige answered less than patiently, rubbing her temple with one hand as she readjusted Wyatt's weight on her hip. "Try and stay focused here."

"But when she's in the bathroom then it gets all foggy and daddy always opens the window." Chris continued. "Maybe he didn't close it back."

Silence followed Chris' statement as his aunts considered the merit of his idea. Eventually, Phoebe laughed. "My nephews are brilliant." She kissed his cheek and he grinned even as he abashedly tilted his head downwards and wiped a hand over the side of his face.

Paige rolled her eyes. "Don't get too happy about it yet; we don't even know if it's still open for sure. Phoebe, you go take a look. I'm going to keep at this door."

Chris looked at Phoebe questioningly, and she shifted him to the other hip. "Orb away my man." She consented.

* * *

They orbed into the bathroom, and Phoebe turned on the light before setting Chris on his feet and pulling back the shower curtain. Cool air hit her face, and she smiled triumphantly when she saw that the tiny window was indeed wide open. She stood on the rim of the bathtub and inspected the open space while Chris hovered nearby, but regardless of what angle she examined it, she couldn't see any plausible way to fit her body through that gap. Chris however, Chris could probably squeeze through with very little difficulty. The next problem would be getting Chris from the second storey to the ground unharmed when he couldn't orb. She knew he had a very good grasp of his powers, but she wasn't willing to chance dangling a four year old out a window in the hopes that he could orb himself safely mid-fall. Even if she did, what the hell was he going to do outside the house when the rest of them were still stuck inside? Besides, with their luck, one of the busybody neighbours would see the whole thing and call Child Services.

"Phoebe." Chris said anxiously, tugging firmly on the hem of her skirt.

"What is it, honey?"

"There's demons in my room; lots of them. They're looking for me and Wyatt."

Phoebe turned her head sharply toward him and then listened carefully… she couldn't hear anything yet, but she didn't doubt that Chris did. She jumped off the bathtub and turned off the light, plunging the room back into darkness.

"Okay, we're going to-

Chris hissed painfully and then placed a hand over his own mouth before turning apologetic eyes her way.

"What's wrong?"

"The one that took us before. The one that took mommy and daddy, he's-

He left the thought unfinished and gasped again when the images began assaulting him once more. There were too many of them, and they were all thinking so loudly… as Phoebe began to respond, she finally heard the footsteps traveling down the hall a moment before they invaded the bedroom just outside the bathroom door.

"Chris." She whispered.

"Uh huh?" His voice shook, and his clammy hand gripped hers tightly.

"Can you tell where Paige is?"

He didn't answer her aloud, but she felt his hair brush her bare arm as he shook his head violently.

"Honey, I know you can do this. Just breathe for me, okay? Concentrate. Where's Paige?"

He swallowed hard. "Kitchen." He said eventually, "No, wait. Laundry room. She's in the laundry room with Wyatt."

Phoebe shifted restlessly on the balls of her feet; Paige had tried orbing once, and it hadn't worked. Which meant in all probability, Chris wasn't going to have any luck with it either. She was tempted to ask Chris to try, but in the pitch dark of the manor, the orbing would most certainly attract the attention of the demons outside the door, and if it didn't work, they would be screwed. She would have better luck bursting out of the bathroom and trying to take them all on, and that wasn't saying a whole hell of a lot.

Chris whimpered and pushed himself into her thigh. His head; it was on fire.

Lisgav's voice filtered through the door, lacking its signature calm and winded in a way she had never heard it before. Phoebe felt her heartbeat quicken as her blood began to course with furious speed through her body.

"The children are here somewhere; all that's required of you is to let your imaginations run wild; allow yourselves to kill them within your minds in as delightfully gruesome a fashion as you can muster. They'll make their presences known."

Phoebe felt Chris begin to shake uncontrollably against her body, and the fury grew so strong inside herself she felt her own body begin to tremble with it. That son of a bitch.

Chris was trying as hard as he could not to cry. Not to make a sound. He knew they were in danger, but it _hurt,_ and people were dying, and then they were dying again, and then they were dying again, and it was like before when they had crowded his head and he hadn't been able to figure out-

"Chris." Phoebe whispered again. "Christopher honey, listen to me. I know. I _know _what this is doing to you." She crouched down on the floor next to him, pulling him against her body and keeping an eye on the door at the same time, ready to spring into action should anyone think to come in. "Don't lose control of it sweetie, you're doing so good."

Chris continued to take shallow breaths, not trusting himself to respond to her, but he grabbed her shirt with his free hand and pressed his face into the material, and he breathed in what was familiar and comfortable and protective, and he held on with everything he had in him.

"That's it. Don't worry, I'm going to get us out of here."

She closed her eyes and concentrated; sometimes, _sometimes _she could call premonitions without touching anything. It wasn't as predictable, but it was at least worth an effort. She forced a deep breath, and she saw two of the demons finally separating from the pack, drifting towards the closed bathroom door that had gone unnoticed up until that point. She paid close attention to the positions of the demons who entered, to the positions of the demons outside the door that obstructed the straight path through the bedroom and out into the hall, and then she opened her eyes.

"Auntie Phoebe." The panic welled high in her nephew's fierce whisper and his fingernails dug into her hand and chest. "They're coming. They're going to come in they're going to find us!"

"I know honey, I see them too." She comforted. "We're going to be okay. You just need to be very, very quiet." She stood on her feet and lifted him into her arms, clamping her hand over his mouth and muffling the squeak of terror that came out when the doorknob began to turn.

_To save my nephew and me as well,  
Barr visibility to those from hell._

The door swung open and she stood stock still, squeezing Chris tightly against her chest in the hopes of containing his blatant shaking. She waited impatiently for the opportunity she had seen, for the one demon to check behind the door at the same time the other pulled back the shower curtain inches away from her, and then she took a silent step forward. And then another step. And another.

As she had hoped, Chris could read within the demons thoughts that they hadn't been spotted, and as he came to realize her impromptu spell had worked, he relaxed against her body. Slightly. The overwhelming number of voices continued to taunt him, but he kept his face buried in Phoebe's neck and gripped her as tightly as he could, and he convinced himself that as long as he held on, they would be okay.

She paused at the towel rack beside the door, and she forced herself to remain motionless until the demon hovering just inside the threshold took three steps forward to stand beside his partner. Just as she had known he would. She slipped through the open door and picked her way across the bedroom at an agonizingly unhurried speed, deftly manoeuvring her way about the space she had spent so much time stealing from in her teenage years; back when it had belonged to her oldest sister and she would have assumed she was high if she had ever come across beings like these.

When she finally reached the hallway, Phoebe exhaled deeply and purposefully headed toward the stairs.

"Can they really not see us?" Chris murmured, barely audibly.

"Not a thing." She assured.

Suddenly Chris resumed his painful clenching of her skin, "They're shimmering… Auntie Paige and Wyatt-

"Well well, look what we have here."

The voice carried up the stairs from what sounded like the kitchen, and Phoebe suppressed the urge to kick something.

_Shit._

* * *

The lights flickered on and Paige and Wyatt squinted against the sudden brightness. They were trapped; there was no way around it. The doorway was surrounded by upwards of ten demons, and Lisgav stood at the centre of the semi circle. She eyed him alertly, but couldn't quite suppress the puzzled frown that crossed her face when she adjusted to the light and took note of his battered appearance. She wasn't stupid enough to be anything less than cautious, but there was no denying that the demon was not in full form.

"Don't use your magic." Paige muttered to Wyatt, keeping his hand clasped firmly in her own. "Whatever you do, don't try to orb, and _do not _use your forcefield."

Wyatt nodded obediently and shifted closer into her side. He remembered what had happened last time; he would make sure he listened. He would remember what his mom and dad had always taught him, and he would do exactly what he was told, no matter how hard it was.

Lisgav took a step forward, and Paige took a deft step back, pulling Wyatt closer against her without removing her eyes from the demons blocking the only exit. The demon seemed entertained by this action more than anything else, and then he looked toward two of his henchmen and nodded in their direction.

The two demons dutifully marched forward, and while one grabbed Paige's arm, the other firmly took a hold of Wyatt's. The grip was too tight; Wyatt wanted to protest, but it hurt too much to even make a sound. He repeated to himself that he could not, under any circumstance, use his powers until Auntie Paige told him it was okay, but when the hand around his arm closed even tighter, he couldn't keep entirely from reacting. Reflexively, he turned his face toward the demon and sunk his teeth into the offending hand with as much force as he could muster.

The demon howled, and when his comrades began to laugh, he glared fiercely at the child before him. "Why you-

Wyatt stiffened and screwed his eyes tight when he saw the hand heading toward him, but instead of a slap, he heard a cry of pain and felt a rush of heat, and then Aunt Paige was talking.

"Nobody touches him." Her voice thundered, and he opened his eyes to see her brandishing an athame that hadn't been in her hand before. The demon he had bit was nowhere in sight.

"Unless you feel like getting vanquished, keep your fucking hands off."

While Lisgav's smile remained unchanged, the lesser demons shifted uncomfortably, and uncertainty whispered among them.

"He's all yours." Lisgav shrugged indifferently. "But you _will_ both be coming with me. Let's not make a scene; come out here into the open."

The demon fixed to her arm half dragged her out into the kitchen, and she struggled against him to keep his fast pace from pulling Wyatt off his feet.

"This should make things easier." Lisgav mused.

Phoebe crept down the stairs with Chris still firmly attached to her hip, and she stopped just inside the dining room.

"Remember to be quiet." She whispered gently, and Chris nodded his head. He was no longer burying himself in her shoulder, but rather, sitting alertly upright as he watched the scene in the kitchen unfold while he tried to keep himself from orbing out of Phoebe's arms to his brother.

"To the remaining two witches trapped inside this house, I suggest you make yourselves known." Lisgav called. "I'd prefer to keep these two alive, really, I would, but I'm going to have to start somewhere unless you come out."

"He's killing Wy." Chris hissed, squirming in his Aunt's grasp, "We have to help!"

"Shh." Phoebe murmured quickly, "He's not going to kill Wyatt. We aren't going to let that happen. But if he gets all four of us, we're going to be in even more trouble. Trust me. Stay still."

The seconds ticked by, and then Lisgav sighed. "Wound the Charmed One. Maybe a scream or two will draw them out."

A second demon held Paige still while the demon currently gripping her arm removed his athame and slashed her just below the elbow. Paige grunted, but was otherwise silent. Wyatt looked at her nervously, but she mustered a smile and a wink for him, and he grinned in return.

"He's hurting Paige!" Chris whispered again.

"Chris, I really need you to be quiet." Phoebe whispered back as gently as she could, "Paige knows what she's doing sweetheart. It's okay. We're still okay."

When another minute passed, Lisgav shrugged. "Now the boy."

"No!" Paige yelled, resuming her struggle against the large demons holding her in place.

"He's gonna do it!" Chris informed Phoebe unnecessarily, "I can see him doing it."

_Goddamn it. _They couldn't put it off any longer; she wasn't going to let her five year old nephew get slice and diced. Her mind spun with the mounting pressure as she tried to think of a rhyme, _any _rhyme, to reverse her spell.

"Uhh… to protect us two a spell was cast, reverse it now and do it fast." She flinched slightly, reflexively bracing herself for a backfire, but she quickly opened her eyes and charged into the kitchen.

"Okay, we're here. You got us." Phoebe said, raising her free hand in surrender. "Congratulations."

Paige exhaled, relieved that Wyatt had been spared yet disappointed at the same time that Phoebe had been forced to give up herself and Chris. They were well and truly screwed now.

The demon stood with the same, collected calm he had possessed that first time in the attic, but Phoebe could read the anger he had stirring within him. It was a pointed anger, and if she had to guess, she would venture it had something to do with the fresh looking wounds covering vast amounts of his face and body.

"Get in a fight?" She asked him with a smirk of her own.

Chris began to giggle in her arms at the same time fury crossed Lisgav's face. Given her nephew's reaction, she was willing to bet there was a good story behind the injuries. Under the demon's steady gaze, however, all traces of mirth dropped away from Chris' face and he again pushed his head against her throat.

Three of the demons separated from the group to cover Phoebe and Chris, but she glared warningly when one of the trio stretched out his hands with intentions of taking the child in her arms.

"Do it, and see what happens to that hand." She threatened casually. "I dare you."

He took the warning seriously and immediately dropped his hands to his sides.

"Well, now that we're all settled… shall we?" Lisgav motioned.

The demons tightened their holds on the captured Charmed Ones, who in turn tightened their holds on their young nephews, and then they all shimmered to the underworld.

* * *

Piper sat against the cave wall, combating the light-headedness that had really only become steadily worse since her altercation with Lisgav. This sucked. And now that she had spent so much time just sitting here, she was definitely more pissed off about being kidnapped before she could tell Leo her news than she was about being kidnapped in the first place. And that was fucked up enough on its own. Leo was right; the boys would be fine until the demon had them all together; every minute she spent alone here with her husband was another minute Phoebe and Paige had protected her kids, and kept them all from being captured. Perfect. So really, she and Leo had been the only two stupid enough to let themselves get caught. One hour. _One_ hour later, and she could have had sex, and bathed in afterglow, and told Leo about the baby, and changed into something more comfortable than this _stupid _dress that she was never even going to get to wear again because the _stupid _underworld reeked of death.

Underworld; one trillion and one.  
Wardrobe; zero.

She had been patiently waiting _all _evening for the right moment, and now she was tempted to just blurt it out and get it over with. As Piper looked at her husband, however, who was anxiously shifting his gaze about the cavern looking for a way out – despite the fact that she had already said _four_ times that there wasn't one – she could see it probably wouldn't exactly serve to help his current mental state. _I know we're being held against our will and all, Leo, but by the way, I'm pregnant. Yeah. Surprise._

"What?" Leo said sharply.

She snapped out of her musing and turned quizzical eyes his way. "I didn't say anything." She said nonchalantly. "I'm just sitting here."

"Are you really pregnant?"

"Huh?"

It wasn't the most intelligent of responses, but really, how could he have known that? She _hadn't _said it aloud. She knew she hadn't. It was him. Him and his stupid powers had robbed her of her only chance to tell him about a pregnancy in her own way, in her own time, without anybody else's interruptions. She squared her shoulders and met his glare with one of her own; if one of them was going to be pissed right now, it was going to be her.

"That kind of joke isn't funny, Piper." He reprimanded.

"What joke? I didn't even say anything!"

_God, you're ridiculous._

"Hey." Piper said indignantly, "I am not. If anyone's being ridiculous right now, it's you. You're not helping our situation."

He frowned, "I didn't say that out loud."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah? How else did I hear it then?"

The realization hit them simultaneously, and they could do nothing more than stare at one another in stunned silence as it settled in.

"Did we just…?"

"I don't know."

"Think something about me." She demanded.

Leo shook his head. He was so not in the mood for her to start being bossy right now.

"I'm not being bossy." Piper snapped, "I'm just trying to figure this out. Sorry for taking charge and trying to get some answers, Leo."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Again… I didn't say that out loud."

"So we can-

"I guess so." He replied, dazed. Then Leo remembered the comment that had started this all in the first place. "You're pregnant?"

She rolled her eyes again. So much for romance and privacy and celebration sex. "Yeah." She replied simply.

"But, you're always so careful…"

Piper sighed, "Well honey, you were dead. And after that I wasn't so much concerned with remembering to take my birth control pill. And when you came back I wasn't exactly in the frame of mind to be thinking about condoms so if you want to blame somebody, blame yourself; 'cause only one of us was sober, and it wasn't me."

"That wasn't what I meant!" Leo exclaimed, his tone shot with no small amount of exasperation.

"Forget it." She fumed, turning her back to him. "We aren't speaking to each other anymore."

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Because I wanted to tell you myself and then you read my mind and wrecked everything!"

"It's not like it was intentional, Piper!"

She pointedly swivelled around on the floor and stared at the cavern wall, raging silently to herself. She wasn't angry with him, not really. Not at all. But this _sucked_. And it was petulant, and hardly grown-up, that she knew, but she still couldn't help but be pissed that the little things could never go her way. Weddings, childbirth… she didn't have _one_ that hadn't been screwed over by magic somehow. And as happy as she was, as ecstatic as she was, as completely thrilled as she was to be pregnant, she knew she and Leo would be done having children after this one. And with this, this, whatever _this_ was, had gone her last chance to be the one to tell Leo. Phoebe had got to do it _twice_ for crying out loud. Telepathy couldn't have waited a day? Really? Not one lousy day?

"Are you seriously going to give me the silent treatment about this? You're acting like a child."

She didn't reply, and Leo rolled his eyes before lowering himself to the ground and staring intently at his own wall. How was it that two, relatively rational, full grown adults could so often be reduced to behaviour more suited to their pre-grade school offspring when arguing? He recognized that they did this. And yet, every time, _every _time, he found himself sucked right in.

Minutes ticked by and they stubbornly upheld their defensive positions, until Leo's curiosity overrode his irritation and he reluctantly broke the silence.

"Was it really that first night I came back?" He asked softly.

Piper bit her lip, and she felt all the anger leave her as swiftly as it had come. Despite her intentions to hold on to it – indefinitely – she turned to face him and her features softened as a slight smile came over her face. To hell with it. It was undeniably true that they had never been a couple to do anything conventionally, but things had turned out pretty damn good for them regardless. Besides, it was almost impossible to stay mad when talking about the precious life developing inside of her.

"I think so. I mean, it could have been later that morning before breakfast, but we _do_ sort of have a track record for conceiving under extenuating circumstances."

She gave him a small smile, and he returned it. "That we do."

"Stress always screws with my cycle, but it's been, well, too long. I just sort of forgot it hadn't come yet until this morning when you pointed out the hickey. I made a doctor's appointment for next Wednesday, but I took two tests at home and they were both positive."

Leo shook his head incredulously. "One of our kids was planned like a responsible couple. The other was the product of a one night stand, and this one is the product of over a month's worth of loneliness and desperation."

"And alcohol." She piped. "Don't forget the alcohol."

He chuckled, "No wonder the statistics on accidental pregnancies are through the roof; it's the only way to get anything done."

Piper laughed, "Do you think that if one of us had recently walked out on the other, or been drunk, or, you know, died, that conceiving Wyatt would have been a cakewalk too?"

"Knowing us? Probably."

He moved so that he was sitting beside her, and she let her head fall upon his shoulder. "You're not looking so good." He observed softly.

"I'm not in pain, just… exhausted. It feels like there's cement filling my body. You don't feel it at all?" She asked curiously.

Leo shrugged, "Vaguely. My powers will keep renewing themselves though; it's not quite the same."

The air shimmered and then Phoebe, Paige, Wyatt and Chris were all before them.

"Oh no." Piper sighed.

"Piper." Phoebe breathed with relief.

The boys raced for the wall and threw themselves against their parents.

"Hi." Piper rubbed Wyatt's back even as her heart sank. It was nice to see for herself that they were okay, but at the same time it was devastating to know what them being here would mean for all of them. Wyatt pushed his bare feet against her leg for warmth, and she squeezed him sadly. Her poor boys. No socks, no shoes, matching cowboy themed pyjamas; oftentimes Wyatt and Chris carried themselves with a precociousness that aged them, but right now, they looked every bit the young, four and five year old children they were.

"Want me to try and orb?" Wyatt asked.

"No, baby. You absolutely cannot use any kind of magic in here; understand?"

"So what's going on in here?" Paige asked cautiously.

Leo explained the marvel that was their prison while Piper calmed Wyatt and Chris, and then Phoebe relayed the story of their own capture.

"Where is he now?" Leo frowned.

"Probably off with some demonic healer." Phoebe guessed, "Somebody roughed him up pretty good. He was a little sensitive about it."

Paige and Phoebe traded confused glances when Piper laughed triumphantly and Leo shook his head at her.

"What'd we miss?"

"Somebody." Piper said smugly, pointing at herself. "_I _did that to him."

"Yeah, and now you can barely move. Congratulations Piper." Leo rolled his eyes.

"Alright, assuming he comes back in full form, what are we going to do?"

Paige waited for a response, but on this rare occasion, there was silence from the peanut gallery.

Wyatt's body abruptly went limp in Piper's lap, and he turned his face into her chest.

"What's wrong, honey?" Piper whispered, rubbing his tiny cold feet between her hands in an attempt to bring him some warmth.

"I'm tired." He answered sleepily. "It's hard to breathe in here. How much longer 'til we go home?"

Her heartbeat quickened and she pulled her son closer against her body. Leo's face mirrored her own concern.

"Just a little while, sweetheart." She murmured, 'Not much longer."

"My arms feel heavy." Chris stated, lifting his arms repeatedly and allowing them to drop to his sides before Leo intervened and told him to keep still.

Piper frowned; they were so young. Of course they would feel the slightest of changes in their bodies sooner than the adults would. They didn't have much time. She watched Chris yawn and settle lethargically against Leo's chest, and she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Leo's powers were the only ones that could work without consequence. Ten years ago, Leo had restored their powers when she, Phoebe and Prue had so stupidly given them up to Rex and Hannah. Wouldn't asking him to heal Wyatt and Chris fall along the same lines? After all, their powers hadn't been stripped; they were here, in this very room. Leo should be able to take back what was theirs and keep the boys comfortable.

"Try healing them." She said, breaking the silence that had once again blanketed the group.

Leo's eyes lit up as he followed her thought process, and Chris remained patiently immobile as the comforting light penetrated the shadowy darkness.

"How do you feel, buddy?" Leo asked gently, "Are your arms still funny?"

Chris immediately shook his head, "No daddy."

Piper released a relieved breath and twisted Wyatt's body, opening him to Leo's healing touch.

"Better?" She asked softly, once Leo had withdrawn his hand.

Wyatt nodded, and Piper kissed the top of his head before shifting him to the ground and standing to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked evenly.

She dusted her sandy hands off on her dress and walked to the mouth of the cavern without a response.

"Piper, what are you doing?"

Piper ignored her husband for the second time and focused on the approximate location of the forcefield, steeling herself against the wave of dizziness she knew would come. They couldn't just sit on their asses and wait for the demon to come back and finish what he'd started. Not with Wyatt and Chris here.

She closed her eyes and then hit the field with everything she had in her. Something sparked; she could only assume it was the gate – wherever the hell it was – and then there was a slight shimmer, like heat coming off the road on a hot summer day. In less than a second, everything was exactly as it had been.

Oh God. It hurt.

Taking a deep breath, Piper closed her eyes again, feeling Wyatt and Chris' eyes upon her, and she remained standing through sheer will alone while commanding her legs to cease trembling.

Both boys kept their gaze on their mother's back as a second explosion rocked the area around them, and Chris clapped his hands over his ears. Leo watched Phoebe and Paige eye each other warily, and he knew he hadn't been the only one to notice the second explosion had caused a spark greater than the first. It would have been a good thing if he didn't suspect Piper to be seconds away from falling on her face.

"Keep still, okay guys?" He directed quietly as he moved Chris out of his lap to sit beside Wyatt.

Paige and Phoebe took their cues, moving closer to the boys and smiling cheerfully, while Leo went to heal his wife.

* * *

Henry paced back and forth in his and Paige's apartment as he contemplated phoning the manor to at least find out how long she planned on being.

She had orbed out mid-car ride home from P3; she hadn't said a word, and he had assumed it had been to answer the call of a charge. He had continued the drive and expected her to meet him at home soon after he arrived. She never stayed with a single charge for long, which was why as the clock ticked on he had then assumed that the emergency had to do with her sisters; but it was almost midnight and he hadn't heard anything from anyone.

He frowned; before, Leo had generally remembered to call and give a heads up when the girls forgot to keep him informed, but he guessed since Leo was magical again now too, that wasn't going to happen anymore.

He turned on his heel and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Coop standing in the hallway, his face clouded with concern.

"What happened?" Henry demanded.

Coop rubbed a hand over his face, "I was hoping they came here."

"Who? Where's Paige?"

"Wyatt called Phoebe just before we got home and said that he and Chris were all by themselves; no babysitter, no Leo, no Piper. Phoebe called Paige, Paige showed up, and they said they were going to grab the boys, bring them to the condo and then look for Piper and Leo, but I haven't seen or heard from any of them since."

Henry stood with his mouth agape. _Everyone _was gone? If there was anything that he had learned, it was that the girls and kids tended to get themselves kidnapped one or two at a time; there was always someone capable of handling the situation left behind. Coop was telling him that they were down to a human and a Cupid. He may have been inexperienced, but those odds didn't sound promising.

"So what do we do?"

"We're going to the underworld. I already left Laura with Victor."

Henry narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Have you ever even been to the underworld?"

Coop glared back, "Have you?"

Henry rolled his eyes, "I just meant… what are we going to do when we get there? How do we find everybody? I get that love is important and all that Coop, I do, but no offense, if I'm going to fight demons I'd rather have Piper."

"Says the mortal." Coop returned. "We don't have time for this. Let's go."

* * *

The smell hit him first; the overwhelming potency was death exemplified, and it was by far more terrible than he had ever imagined. From the girls' mouths it sounded dangerous in a bordering attractive sense; the underworld. Home of the demons. Home of all things dark and destructive. The Elephant Graveyard of his human existence.

_Elephant Graveyard?_

Henry shook his head; he was spending too much time around Wyatt and Chris. The Disney shit was beginning to just roll off his tongue.

His muscles tightened as he glanced warily around him and he suddenly wished he had a gun. Or a taser. Or a wooden stake. A heavy candlestick. He'd even settle for a Number 2 Pencil. Knowing human weapons would have little to no effect on the demon they were hunting didn't appease how completely wrong it felt to approach certain death entirely unarmed.

"What do we do now?"

Coop distractedly twisted off his ring, "You're going to find Paige, and we're going to hope that everyone else currently missing in action is with her."

"And how am I going to do that?" Henry questioned, reluctantly taking the ring Coop was impatiently thrusting in his direction.

"My ring is the strongest magic I have, but I can't use it for myself. Phoebe and I, we happened outside its influence. You put it on, and you think about Paige and what she means to you with everything you have. It's our only shot… without the girls…" He left the thought open ended, and Henry swallowed. "… it has to work."

"Shouldn't you be holding it then? Isn't there a reason why I'm never allowed to touch anything?"

Coop sighed, "Henry, I understand that this is all very complicated, but it can be explained later, after we've got everybody back. I don't want to screw with the signal by thinking about Phoebe while you're concentrating on Paige… you don't have any other powers; if you do this, and do it right, there's only one place we're going to go. Even in the magical community, love trumps everything else. Trust in that, trust in what you have with Paige, and don't fight it when it pulls you."

Henry stared dubiously at the ostentatious piece of jewellery in his hands, then he closed his eyes and slipped it on.

* * *

Piper stood just shy of the cave entrance with her eyes fixed ahead in concentration and her hands atop her hips. Leo stood to one side. Her eyes flashed brightly as the explosion burst forth with an angry whoosh of wind, and Leo stepped forward to grab hold of her waist and set her firmly back on her feet before she could hit the ground; just as he had done the time before. And the time before that. And the time before that. The children being trapped in the cage alongside the two of them had inspired a new determination in her, and she had yet to give it a rest, despite the fact that she could no longer stand more than a minute or two without her legs giving out on her.

"One more time." She growled. Her chest heaved from the effort, and a light sheen of sweat covered her flushed face. "I'm going to try one more time. I can do it; you saw it give, right? I can do it."

"Let me heal you." Leo insisted lowly. "Please, Piper?"

They both glanced behind them to where Phoebe and Paige were doing their best to engage Chris and Wyatt, but there was only one direction the boys were fastidiously focusing in. Piper stood away from Leo; how she managed, she didn't know. As he watched her stare steadily his way, he didn't know either.

"Your magic won't hold up forever." She responded, the same way she had the last time he asked. "Save it for our sons."

_What about the baby?_

He thought it to himself because he couldn't bear to think it aloud, and yet the answer came back to him just the same.

_The human part of me will protect the baby. The magical part of me is going to protect everyone else._

"And what about you?" This time, he felt the words leave his mouth. "Who's protecting you?"

Piper stopped looking at him then, already preparing to wage war against the invisible shield, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that her attacks were becoming weaker.

"That fucking gate is going to give before I do." She said resolutely.

And then she added the combination of words he wished he could rip from her vocabulary, because they were so rarely the truth.

"I'm fine."

* * *

Lisgav cursed as more of the black, tar-like substance was spread over the place his clavicle should have been. There were many parts of him that had come together misaligned after he had been hit by what he suspected was as close to the witch's full power as she had ever used on any one demon. He would feel smug if his entire body wasn't amassing in excruciating pain. He hadn't risked coming here before capturing the remaining witches, but maintaining composure long enough to travel to the manor and back had been no easy task.

"How are they faring?" He demanded through gritted teeth.

The seer closed her eyes and then reopened them mere seconds later.

"The whitelighter appears to be immune to its effects… but if he continues to use his powers to rejuvenate the powers of his sons, it won't be long until he exhausts them; if only temporarily."

Lisgav grunted once again in pain and glowered at his own healer. The medicine man lowered his head apologetically and continued. Damn the whitelighters. They were undoubtedly the most infuriating breed of all magical good beings.

"And the witches?"

"There is no end to the determination of the eldest." She mused, "Every attack on the cage renders her weaker, and yet, she continues. I don't think she comprehends. Her actions are suicidal."

"Her actions," He hissed, "are driven by love. We wouldn't be the first demons to underestimate its power. Go; be certain she makes no headway. With the full united Power of Three, we stand no chance."

"She can't escape." The seer stated with utmost confidence. "I would wager my life on it."

"Believe me; you do." The demon replied. "Go."

* * *

Leo exhaled slowly and adjusted his grip on Chris. The lengths of silence between their bursts of ideas were growing longer, and to make matters worse, they had discovered that the cage was not only stealing their magic, but feeding off of it as well. When Paige had wandered too close to the cave entrance, the jolt had hit her much harder than it had previously hit Piper, and Piper had been forced to give up when she realized every failed attempt at blowing them free only served to strengthen their prison. He doubted she could manage a big enough explosion to even make the demon pause at this point. She was sitting similarly against the wall with Wyatt in her lap, keeping animated for the boys' sake; Phoebe and Paige were beginning to look slightly pale, but Piper's incessant attacks against Lisgav and against the cage had left her in the worst shape of them all.

Chris shifted in his lap for the millionth time, and Leo tightened his hold. "Chris, you need to stay still."

Chris frowned and continued to twist his head in a seemingly arbitrary fashion.

"Chris…"

The stern warning tone halted the child momentarily, but less than a minute later, Leo was again trying to keep his younger son's squirming to a minimum. Beyond exasperated, Leo was about to reprimand him for the second time in as many minutes when Chris craned his neck to look up at him, confusion and frustration etched onto his face.

"I can't find her." He said.

"Find who?" Leo frowned.

"There's a demon watching us, but I can't see her anywhere."

"Chris." Leo admonished gently, "Buddy, please try and remember not to use your powers."

"I'm not doing it on purpose; she started thinking and then I just heard her. Did you know she helped make this place?"

The adults all heard the approaching footsteps at close to the same time, and Phoebe and Paige leapt to their feet first, immediately assuming a battle stance. Leo pulled Piper to a standing position and tried to ignore how little she was able to assist him. He pushed Chris behind him, and Piper absently did the same to Wyatt without looking at either of them. He wouldn't try to speak to her. Or Phoebe. Or Paige. He knew from experience that at this point, none of them would hear him.

All their mouths twisted open in surprise when Coop and Henry came into their line of sight instead.

"Coop? _Henry_?"

"How did you guys find us?" Phoebe asked incredulously.

Henry grinned, "I put my foot in my mouth. Again. Turns out love beats magic; take that, all mighty Charmed Ones. I feel like part of the Justice League right now. An important part… not like, Flash or something. Hey, can I be Batman?"

Paige rolled her eyes, "My husband, everyone; in all his moronic glory. Try to focus, Henry."

"I can't believe that worked." He said elatedly. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Phoebe answered. "Seriously, how did you find us?"

Henry took a step forward and instantly cried out in pain as the supercharged jolt coursed through him.

"There's a cage." Paige warned belatedly, "It's gotten stronger since we first came in."

Henry took a moment to squint at the seemingly harmless space between them, and then he took a cautious step backward.

"We used Coop's ring." He said proudly.

Paige frowned and began to question the validity of that method, only to stop herself just as quickly. Love had been proven time and time again to be the one human response capable of overcoming even the strongest of magic. Human love, human _selflessness _had undone curses and reversed spells… even Charmed magic couldn't surpass it. Love wasn't magical; it was fundamentally human. It would have evaded all the cloaks and protection spells, and enabled Coop to follow its path as easily as he would a trail of breadcrumbs.

"If we had thought of that, we would have nominated one of us to get kidnapped a lot sooner." She finally said aloud.

"How do we turn it off?" Coop asked, alertly checking behind him for any approaching dark calvary.

"We can't even see it." Phoebe tapped her heel agitatedly, "You guys are going to have to try-

"Daddy." Chris started, pulling firmly on Leo's hand.

The girls stiffened as Chris' warning barely pre-empted the familiar space displacement, and Lisgav once again appeared on the inside of the cage; one hundred percent recovered from the injuries sustained by Piper's hand that had plagued him such a short time ago.

"You brought guests." He smiled, glancing nonchalantly at Coop and Henry before turning his gaze back to the Charmed Ones.

He took a threatening step forward, and Piper closed her eyes and hoped she could will her powers to work this one last time.

Lisgav froze in place, prompting her to re-shut her lids briefly and similarly will the dizziness and nausea to pass. They didn't.

"He's not going to stay frozen long." Piper warned urgently. "A minute or two; max. We need to think quickly."

"Uncle Coop, look out!" Chris shouted.

By the time they processed Chris' latest outburst, a demon had materialized behind the Cupid and hit him forcefully in the back of the head with a large piece of rock.

"No!"

Phoebe was the only one who managed to form a word as the group instinctively stepped forward.

The demon smirked into the cage, and her bright eyes danced dangerously. There was something almost faerie like about her appearance, a softness that mimicked a delicate innocence, but there was undeniable evil to be seen in those cold eyes.

She stared at Henry curiously, and her features softened. "You," She began, grazing a finger teasingly over his shoulder, "most certainly do not belong down here. Do I frighten you, human?"

As she whispered in his ear, Henry drew back his elbow with as much strength as he could manage and connected solidly with the side of the girl's head. Stunned, she fell to the ground, and without a moment's hesitation Henry picked up the weighty rock that had slipped from her grip and smashed it into her face. He ignored the way his stomach flipped at the sound of bone yielding to ancient stone, and he allowed the weapon to drop from his suddenly useless fingers when she collapsed in an unresponsive heap.

"I've never hit a girl before." He said, dazed by the violence of his own instincts.

"She's not a girl, Henry." Paige snapped. "She's a demon; you did good."

There was a slight popping sound, and then the cavern walls seemed to flex and shimmer before their eyes. An unexpected burst of light temporarily blinded them all, and when they squinted to readjust to the dim lighting of their prison, solid bars enclosed them where before there had been none.

Henry impulsively rushed forward.

"Henry no-

The warning came too late, and Henry was once again shocked the moment he came in contact with the bars.

Leo looked down at Chris, "Is that the same demon who helped build the cage?"

Chris nodded and Leo shifted his gaze to the adults. "She must have been consciously maintaining the illusion from a distance the entire time."

Lisgav began to slowly fight off the effects of the freeze, and as his sudden motion caught everyone's eye, Piper took a deep, painful breath. They were so _close_. She could do this. She could do this one more time. She could _keep _doing this one more time until it was enough. She shot her hands in his direction in a desperate attempt to boost what remained of her abilities, and she was too relieved to see the demon actually freeze to take notice of the way exhaustion had given way to pain throughout every overtaxed nerve in her body.

"We really need to hurry." She said calmly.

"I've got it." Phoebe said suddenly. "Henry, drag her body over here."

"What are you doing?" Paige asked suspiciously.

Phoebe absently put forth her answer as she crouched as close to the bars as she could go without receiving that damn shock.

"We can't touch it, but _she_ must be able to. She built the thing for crying out loud. If Henry puts her hand between the bars, it should pass through the forcefield. I can see how it's opened, and then Henry can very carefully move her hands along the cage and set us free."

Henry had been complying with her plan as she mapped it out for Paige, and Phoebe took hold of the demon's hand as it passed effortlessly into the cage.

_The bars are smooth. Cold. Polished. They sing beneath her fingers and she feels the surge of power that accompanies the feeling of complete control with its completion. The fourth bar from the right slides upwards, and then the two next to it. All three bars lock and a hinge creaks, and she shuts the door and pulls down the bars and taps the cold, cold metal. With that, the bars are no more and there's open space and the hum of energy radiating from something that continues to exist despite the fact it can no longer be seen._

Phoebe's eyes flew open and she inhaled sharply, fighting the moment of exhaustion that always succeeded a premonition alongside the light-headedness caused by the accelerated draining of her powers.

"These three." She pointed quickly. "Lift them."

Henry immediately hoisted the unconscious body upright and complied with Phoebe's instructions. The bars clicked into place, and then the glorious clanging of the opening gate echoed throughout the room.

The door swung open, and Henry dropped the body to the floor and rushed across the threshold to his wife. Bright lights swirled about the cavern, illuminating everything within it, and the girls stood still and smiled as both their powers and the energy connected to them rushed mercifully back into their bodies.

"Leo." Phoebe called, springing forward to Coop's still form.

Leo left Piper's side and knelt beside Coop, stretching out his hands and waiting impatiently. The instant Coop groaned and began to sit up, Piper pushed her sons in his and Leo's direction.

"Get them out of here."

He met her eyes, grateful to see colour in her face and undeniable power in her stance. She was back. He lifted Chris into his arms and stared expectantly at Wyatt.

"But I want to-

Piper raised an eyebrow, daring Wyatt to finish that sentence, and her son obediently – silently – took hold of his father's outstretched hand. She then offered Leo a tight smile filled with silent gratitude while Paige gently convinced Henry to leave, and Coop rose to his feet.

_Kick his ass._

She bit her lips together to keep from smiling and answered her husband in kind.

_I will. _

Her heart only unclenched once she had watched her family safely dissipate into the muggy air, and then she looked to her sisters for confirmation. Off their nods, she planted her feet shoulder's width apart and crossed her arms over her chest, gazing intently at the demon's statuesque form.

Lisgav unfroze, and once the confusion faded away his head snapped from their direction – where there conspicuously stood three people instead of the six he had previously seen – to the entrance where the two newcomers had loitered. His eyes widened in a combination of shock, horror and fury.

"You are so fucked." Paige smirked.

"How-

"You just got your ass handed to you by a mortal."

They joined hands and revelled in the familiar flare of power as the demon could do little more than watch. His eyes darted, and Piper froze his legs in place before he could make the move.

"Not today." She said coolly.

_One much loved, from us did you take,  
burn slowly now, know your mistake  
In our world you'll no longer dwell;  
For all eternity, we send you to hell._

There was nothing anticlimactic about _this _vanquish. Piper watched with an impassive face and intense, attentive eyes as the demon wailed in pain and she saw that God-awful smirking mouth literally melt away before her.

Their faces tilted slightly under the heat of the brightly burning body, and the pre-existing stench of death within the cavern embraced its new addition with open arms.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige stared in silence, the way they always did, bracing themselves for an unlikely comeback, and then three weary sets of shoulders finally relaxed. Before a word could be spoken, there was a soft moan from just outside the cage that reminded them of the female demon's continued presence. With minimal effort, a smooth explosion sounded, and then it was all over.

"Good riddance." Phoebe muttered.

The girls left the confines of the massive cage, which stood disarmed, yet still intact, and Paige and Phoebe stared at Piper expectantly. Piper chewed her lip and picked absently at her cuticles, gazing at the cage with something akin to longing, and Phoebe laughed.

"Go on." She prodded encouragingly.

"We promise we won't tell Leo." Paige added with a smile.

Piper beamed and deftly gave an unnecessary, theatrical flick of her wrists, enjoying the somewhat spastic flail one last time.

Paige shook her head as the metal disintegrated as easily as one would snap a popsicle stick, and she took hold of her sisters' hands.

"You are such a show-off."

In their grime streaked dresses and scuffed shoes, they orbed topside and left the dust to settle.


	21. Epilogue

"_This is your stop." Paige yawned. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."_

"_Thanks Paige." Piper murmured absently._

_Her head was filled with thoughts of hot, cleansing showers and heavy duvets. And flannel. Warm, comfortable flannel that smelled like home and lacked the suffocating scent of charred flesh clinging to her clothes like a second skin. She barely registered Paige's exit, and she briefly considered passing out on the couch and avoiding the stairs entirely before convincing herself that she was not, in fact, that pathetic._

_Grudgingly, she made her way to the silent second floor, which was dimly lit by the lamp atop the small table toward the end of the hall. When she opened the door to her bedroom her heart warmed at the sight of Leo, sitting in the centre of the mattress against the headboard with a book open in his lap. She would have smiled at the thought of him so obviously waiting to greet her if the muscles in her face weren't too tired to cooperate._

_Before she could begin stripping off her soiled clothes, a muffled giggle echoed through the room, and she narrowed her eyes at Leo – who smiled in return – when she finally took note of the child sized lumps beneath the comforter on either side of him. She approached the bed and gently poked the body nearest her, and pulled back the duvet at the new giggle brought on by her action._

_Wyatt smiled guiltily in her direction and she put her hands on her hips. "Hi."_

"_Hi mommy."_

_Chris pulled the covers from over his head as well, and delivered an equally guilt filled grin her way._

"_Shouldn't you boys be in your own beds?"_

"_They wanted to wait up for you." Leo answered with an easy smile. "It seemed easier just to go with it."_

"_I see." She nodded. "We're letting the inmates take over the asylum, huh?"_

_Their faces glowed, and Piper decided that she was perhaps not as tired as she had thought. If there was anything in the world worth delaying a hot shower for, it was the people in her bed. She climbed onto the mattress and released an exaggerated groan when Chris threw himself into her lap, and as she kissed the top of his head her expression grew suddenly serious._

"_Listen, I just want you two to know how proud I am of you. You were so brave tonight… I love you very much." _

"_Is he vanquished?" Wyatt asked curiously._

_Piper paused at his bluntness. "He's vanquished." She eventually responded._

_Wyatt grinned, "Cool."_

"_Good." Chris frowned. "I didn't like the way he made my head hurt."_

_She absently stilled his hands in her own when he began to fiddle with the clasps on her dress, and pulled him close. "This may not be the last time it happens, sweetheart." She said softly, honestly. "I know I've told you this before, but it __**will **__get easier. It's not fair to you, but it's- it's just… one of those things that comes with having special gifts. Everything has its good parts and bad parts… especially magic."_

"_Being a magic person is still easier than being a normal person. It's kind of like how being a girl is easier than being a boy." Chris thought aloud._

_Piper gave him a puzzled half smile while Leo laughed heartily. "What?"_

_As had been the situation so many times before, neither of them could begin to fathom what had inspired this latest thought, and they waited expectantly, amusedly, for the explanation._

"_Like, you know how mom wears your clothes sometimes, daddy? She's got her own clothes, but she takes yours. It's easier being a girl; 'cause boys can't wear girl clothes but girls can wear both clothes. And normal people can only be normal, and we can be normal when we want to be, but we can be special when we want to be too. We get to do both. You get it easiest, mommy, 'cause you're a witch __**and **__a girl." Chris mapped out with certainty._

_Words evaded Piper; she didn't know how to even begin responding to that logic. Moreover, she wondered what could be deduced about her own sanity considering she had listened to so many of Chris' abstract theories, they actually didn't sound as crazy to her as they had once upon a time._

_As usual, her son had brought a smile to her face. From the mouths of babes. Even Chris couldn't convince her she had an easy life, but it was, at the end of the day, her life. One that she had made for herself. And despite the chaos of the past two and a half months, a lot of the time, it was quite normal. She couldn't ask for more than that. Not as a Charmed One. As Chris had so simply put it, she got to do both. It seemed to take more energy than it was worth to hang on to the bitterness and resentment she so often felt in regards to her destiny._

"_I see." She said finally. _

* * *

**Epilogue**

_This is for my friends and more, who live so richly;  
still they taste the solitude in the back of our mouths.  
We all know the sadness flow that pours out like a chorus,  
still we keep rolling the lonesome road out before us._

_Where do you lie down? Can I lie too?  
Oh just for a moment? But then, I gotta go._

_We all know the sadness flow that pours out like a chorus,  
still we keep rolling the lonesome road out before us.  
Oh still we keep rolling the lonesome road out before us._

_**This is For**__, Ingrid Michaelson_

**February**

"… and he _never_ knocked. I mean, never! So I'm sitting in Piper's closet trying to find the red sweater she stole –

"borrowed." Piper interrupted.

"_Stole_ from me, and out of nowhere there's someone behind me breathing on my neck."

The group, high on conversation, could scarcely breathe as they laughed through Phoebe's grossly exaggerated account of the story.

"_Hey baby,_" Phoebe giggled, deepening her voice in a comic, poorly fashioned imitation of Leo, "_You ever done it on a cloud?_"

A new roar of laughter erupted from the six adults in the parlour, and Piper wiped away a tear at the exaggeration only Phoebe could so perfectly deliver, while Henry raised his beer in salute to her rather flushed husband. Leo, for his part, was glad to be half hidden beneath Piper's body on the armchair they were currently sharing.

"It was _Piper's _room! And you said you weren't going to tell!" Leo exclaimed, ignoring the increase in heat to his face.

"Oh please." Piper gasped, speaking between peals of laughter, "She told me the next morning. It was her way of cheering me up."

Leo reflected on this a moment, and then he sat up so abruptly, only lucky reflexes saved Piper from being dumped to the floor.

"So at breakfast, when you said –

"She already knew!" Phoebe howled, collapsing back into the couch and whimpering at the pain in her stomach's much abused muscles.

"I can't believe this."

Paige wanted all the details of the story; Henry could tell by the way she used his thigh to push herself forward on the couch opposite Phoebe and Coop. When it came to family stories before her time, Paige went one of two ways; hungry enthusiasm, lapping up every minute detail, or staunch indifference, with a push for a change of subject. As the years passed, and her security in the unbreakable bond they shared as siblings grew, there were less and less instances involving the latter. There was only one question, however, that mattered to Henry.

"So, _have_ you ever done it on a cloud?"

"Done what on a cloud?"

The group instantly sobered when Wyatt entered the room, Chris and Laura in tow.

It was Piper and Leo's anniversary, and Piper had decided to throw a small party in lieu of a traditional intimate affair involving just the two of them. She had promised a slightly sulky Leo that she would make it up to him, but even Leo had long since come to love the idea. It was a celebration; a final farewell to living in fear and holding on to the past. A new beginning that needed, deserved, to be welcomed in with reverence. The atmosphere of the manor matched the utter elation that had affected them all on Piper's birthday, prior to leaving P3; God help the demon who thought to interrupt _this _party.

Coop cleared his throat. "Scrabble." He fibbed easily, although less than convincingly, "It's like a whole other world, playing scrabble up in the clouds."

Wyatt seemed to accept this, and he squeezed himself between Coop and the armrest, while Laura climbed into Phoebe's lap and Henry shifted over to allow Chris to sit between himself and Paige.

Phoebe gave Coop's arm a warning pinch, and he grinned confidently in return.

Following dinner, Phoebe had been the one to suggest Scrabble, with a mischievous glint in her eye, well aware of the inevitable competitive, loud turn the game would take. Piper had absently mused aloud that televised commercials for Family Game Nights always failed to include the cheating, board throwing, drinking and tantrums that had always accompanied _their_ games. Where were these so called families who managed to co-exist peacefully when competition was involved?

Henry, ever the antagonistic force, continued to stir the pot. "Leo? Cloud se- ahem, cloud Scrabble? You were telling us all about it?"

Leo glared at Henry, then looked to Piper, interpreting her mood. Newfound telepathy and all, he was just as surprised as the rest of them when Piper allowed herself to smile widely and blurt out,

"Fantastic."

She was beaming, and it was reassuring to Leo to know that she could still surprise him. That all the mystery and pleasant unexpected things were not gone forever just because they could read each other's thoughts.

"Second only to really angry Scrabble." Leo deadpanned.

Chris looked to Wyatt in confusion when Leo's comment brought about a relapse in hysterics and Piper batted Leo's chest, but Wyatt only shrugged his shoulders.

Piper took note of the girls' nearly empty glasses and stood up to fetch a new round.

_Stay._

He saw the corners of her mouth twitch upward in response, and then, without looking at him, she gave a soft smile. His smile. One of the few parts of her that were his, and his alone.

_You're setting a bad example for our children, abusing your magic._

_Personal gain doesn't apply to Whitelighters._

_Yeah... that's just not true. In any context._

She organized the nearly empty glasses on the serving tray and disappeared through the doorway, and Phoebe watched Leo watch Piper from her own position on the couch.

"You could at least _pretend_ you're not anxiously waiting for us to leave, Leo." She laughed.

"Huh? I'm not-

He cut himself off and relaxed when he took note of the teasing smile on her face. "Very funny, Phoebe."

Before Phoebe could respond, Piper's voice drifted into the room from the kitchen.

"Leo? Could you give me a hand please?"

* * *

He ambled through the kitchen door and found her leaning casually against the counter.

"What's up?"

"I've decided to forgive you." The words were serious, but her half smile belied the teasing intention.

"Oh?" He smiled back. "And in what horrible way did I screw up this time?"

"I'm forgiving you for figuring out I'm pregnant before I got to tell you."

"Ah." He nodded solemnly, "That would be the pregnancy I found out about through a phenomenon – which I had no control over – that affected us both? The pregnancy I wouldn't have been any the wiser to had it not been for you thinking about it first?"

"That's the one." Piper confirmed.

"You're too gracious."

She smiled and pushed herself away from the counter, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing contently as she felt his chest expand and contract with each breath he took.

"Happy anniversary." She whispered.

He squeezed her back, "Happy anniversary."

She gave him a shy smile and hesitantly picked up a small, neatly wrapped package from atop the counter that he had failed to notice until she reached for it. Her motions brought a tiny smile unbidden to his own face, as he marvelled at the way regardless of the years that passed, the awkward approach she occasionally took despite her assertive capabilities always exposed a vulnerability he felt privileged to witness.

"This is for you." She explained unnecessarily.

Leo turned the box over in his hands and gently eased off the perfect coils of ribbon that had been tied at the centre. When he began examining the wrapping paper for tape, knowing Piper sometimes couldn't help but cringe when the decorative paper was carelessly ripped off a gift, she rolled her eyes.

"Go ahead." She said dramatically, "I know you want to."

He grinned and immediately tore away the paper. When he lifted the lid, inside the feminine, tissue lined box there lay a bright pink bottle filled with glittery liquid. Leo's grin turned into a puzzled smile as he looked at Piper, but she just shrugged and continued to stand against the counter with her hands in her pockets and the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.

Leo removed the bottle and inspected the label; it was bubble bath. More specifically, it was Strawberry Vanilla Sugar bubble bath. Who thought of these names? He watched uncertainty cross her features as the seconds ticked by and she began to doubt the cleverness of the gesture, and it pained him to know he would soon have to admit he was at a loss as to the meaning. Unless…

She felt him push into her mind, and Piper promptly blocked him as easily as she would slam a door shut. It was odd, the way this power between them didn't really feel like a power at all; more like a mere extension of something that had always been there. Her life would have been a lot easier if all her other advancements and gifts had gone over so smoothly. This, this really didn't even require practicing. It was instinctive on a level only something between her and Leo could be. It was practically natural. It was something that – minus the boost – they'd already been doing for years.

"Nope. No cheating. Either you get it, or you don't."

And then, just as he was beginning to squirm, it came to him.

_He leans against the back of the tub and holds her against his chest, savouring her closeness and doing his best not to react to the low groan she emits when the water begins to relieve the pressure and soreness in her joints and muscles. She's trying to be a trooper, but he knows the last few weeks have been increasingly hard on her, and it's probably not going to get any easier between now and the end of her pregnancy. Soon she's on the verge of falling asleep, and he tightens his hold on her to make sure she doesn't slip and lose what seems to be one of the few comfortable positions she has managed to find._

_He doesn't immediately recognize the rhythmic thumping… he's in his own little world and he's trying to figure out how five minutes in this water is enough for Piper's skin to carry the alluring scent of the foam he poured in for her for the duration of a day or night. He doesn't know how much time passes before he realizes that the thumping is hitting his hand, and his hand is covering Piper's stomach. When he moves his fingers slightly, he can see the taut skin of her belly move with each kick from the baby within._

_He sits up abruptly, sending suds and water sloshing over the edge of the tub, saturating the tiled floor, while the bone of his shoulder catches Piper roughly in the back of the head._

"_Ow!" Her protest is instant, and she raises a hand to touch the offending spot on the back of her skull._

"_Sorry."_

"_What the hell is wrong with you?" She mutters groggily._

"_She's kicking."_

"_She's always kicking." Piper says irritably._

"_Not so I can feel… she's done it more in the last two minutes than she has the entire time you've been pregnant."_

"_Isn't that a good thing? What are you freaking out about?"_

_He ignores her question, "Lean back."_

"_That depends on if I'm going to get smacked in the head again." She replies, only half kidding._

"_Honey, I said I was sorry. Now come on."_

_She releases a sigh, but compliantly rests her back against his broad chest once more, and sets her hand over his when he eagerly places it in the same spot on her stomach. It's only a matter of seconds before the baby once again resumes the steady stream of kicks._

"_It's the water. She must feel it; the pressure change? I think she likes it." Leo says excitedly._

_Piper smiles, willing to indulge this since it hurts a lot less being kicked while underwater._

"_We need to do this more often; it's amazing."_

"_You can be so infuriating." But she smiles when she says it, and Leo is confident that they will be repeating this activity many, many times over._

The goofy, far away smile that had overtaken his face was all the evidence Piper needed to be assured that he remembered. So much had changed in the six years that had passed since then; it was hard to hold on to the ambivalent, inexperienced emotions that had consumed them when they had been in a perfect place, and they had thought Leo being too often called away would be the worse thing that could ever happen. When they had had no notion of the nerve shattering ascensions and subsequent crashes of joy and heartache that were literally only months away from consuming them.

"We didn't get to try it with Chris." She said sadly, "But maybe this baby will take to baths as well as Wyatt did."

"We'll give it a try." He promised.

He placed the bottle gently back in its delicate packaging and then rested it on the counter, freeing his arms to wrap around his wife.

"How much longer do you think we should wait before we tell them?" He murmured in her ear.

Piper closed her eyes and smiled as she placed her hands atop her husband's and leaned back against his chest.

"I'm almost eight weeks," she mused aloud, "I started to show a lot earlier with Chris than I did with Wyatt… assuming this one follows that same pattern, do you think we could make it another month?"

He chuckled, "I don't think so, Piper." He answered honestly. "I think it's likely you've got a couple weeks, tops."

"Are you sure? Because I think maybe-

"Honey, you changed pants three times this morning before you could find a pair of jeans that would button." Leo laughed softly.

"Nuh uh." She protested, "I could button them, they were just… tight. It was uncomfortable."

Leo raised an eyebrow, "Was that achieved lying down or standing up?"

She paused, knowing he had her.

"Damn it."

"It's your third pregnancy." He said, nuzzling her neck, "I can already tell your body's changing, it won't be long before your sisters can too."

"One week." She bartered, angling her neck to give him better access. "I want it to be just ours for one more week. Then we'll tell them."

"And I get to tell Phoebe." Leo confirmed.

She giggled and rolled her eyes, "Yes, Leo, you get to tell Phoebe."

"One week." He agreed, kissing the top of her shoulder.

The determined clicking of heels on the hardwood floor preceded Paige as she came barrelling through the doorway.

"I swear, if you two are in here groping each other, I'm going to stop coming over."

Leo flushed and released his hold on Piper, and she put her hands on her hips to face off her sister.

"Pregnant or not missy, I'll smack you."

"Yeah yeah. Where are those drinks you disappeared with?"

Piper finished loading the glasses onto the tray and headed back toward the hall without directly engaging her sister.

"As long as you're in here, be useful and help Leo with the dessert trays." She called over her shoulder.

Paige waited until she was sure Piper wouldn't be coming back, and then she carefully shut the kitchen door while Leo stared at her curiously.

"What's going on?"

Paige smiled and walked around the island to the counter by the sink, and she casually pulled herself onto it and folded her legs beneath her, staring at Leo intently.

"I have a present for you."

Leo gave a puzzled tilt of his head and then laughed uncertainly, "What?"

She took a potion bottle out of her sweater pocket and tossed it his way, and he reflexively caught it without really knowing what it was. When he recognized the tiny glass bottle and the corked top, he frowned. "What's this?" He asked seriously.

"It's a power stripping potion."

His head snapped upward and all traces of previous merriment left his expression as he waited for her to elaborate.

Paige uncrossed her legs and allowed them to dangle off the edge of the counter. One foot thumped rhythmically against the cupboard below, and she stared him dead in the eye with utmost seriousness.

"I know you don't want to live forever. There aren't any guarantees that Piper won't still die first, but the two of you… you deserve to get to grow old together more than anyone I know. Piper doesn't even have to know right away… you'll keep your other powers, the only thing you're losing is the immortality."

He turned the bottle over in his hands, wondering how Paige managed to corner him at the exact moment he felt weakest about this very issue. In the weeks that had passed since his last faceoff with the Elders, he hadn't allowed himself to dwell on the subject of his immortality for more than a fleeting moment before he forcibly locked his anxiety away and turned to another task. He loved Piper. He loved his sons. He loved his baby that had yet to enter this world. Right now, he had all four of them, and he refused to let anything take away from that. No amount of thinking, however, could make those fleeting moments any less painful.

"It won't work." He said softly, confidently. Although a part of him wished there was a chance it would.

"Oh please." Paige scoffed, and the flamboyant way she rolled her eyes took away a fraction of the grave tension that had descended on the kitchen. "We're the Charmed Ones. Really, there isn't a hell of a lot we can't do."

"Paige this goes beyond that. The Elders themselves did this to me; you can't just undo it."

"We've gone over the Elders before. We've summoned Angels of Destiny, we've gone back and forth in time and rewritten history. Leo, I stopped death worldwide once, and that was an _accident._ I did this on purpose. There is literally no force of magic more powerful than we are when we put our minds to it."

He ran a hand over his face, "I understand that, Paige. But for this to even have a chance of working, you would need…"

His voice trailed off, and he remembered Paige, catching Piper with the paring knife in the kitchen that day weeks ago. He remembered how uncharacteristically clumsy it had been, because while Paige was admittedly accident prone, she tended to hurt herself, not others. He remembered her catching Phoebe with the kitchen door in much the same way not five minutes prior to that. As he connected the dots, a slow smile began to spread over Paige's face, and he knew he was right.

"…blood?" she finished smugly.

"You stabbed my wife. Your sister. On purpose."

"Yep."

"You nearly broke Phoebe's nose. On purpose."

"Uh huh."

He shook his head in disbelief. "This is unreal. We can't do this."

Paige's eyes softened, "Leo, you've already lived two lifetimes. It's unreasonable to expect you to continue a third eternally without Piper. Without your sons. You can't be without her; it wouldn't be fair."

"I need to talk to Piper." He murmured distractedly, still gazing at the contents of the bottle resting in his palm with undisguisable longing.

"She won't be able to make that choice." Paige said certainly with a negative shake of her head, "She'll always wonder if 'letting' you take it was the right thing to do. And if, heaven forbid, something ever happens to you, again, she'll spend a lot of time beating herself up about it."

"But-

"Look." She interrupted impatiently, "I know you and my sister have this insane connection, and you can figuratively get inside each other's heads now – which I actually find more creepy than anything else, by the way – but trust me on this. This needs to be your decision, Leo. Just like it was the first time. What do you want?"

He paused; what _did _he want? He wanted to be with his wife, always. He wanted to believe that after everything they had been through, they could see the end of the epic uphill battle that has been their relationship the last eleven years, and just _be._ He wanted to kick her overconfident behind in that far off, distant game of scrabble that had been promised to them by the future versions of themselves.

He uncorked the bottle and downed the contents, then grimaced at the bitter taste and buried the bottle in the trash.

"What now?"

Paige grinned and grabbed one of the knives from the stand before hopping down from the counter. Leo instinctively took a step back.

"We see if it worked."

Leo mustered as authoritative an expression as he could and pointed his index finger at her firmly, "Stay away from me."

"Oh come on, Leo." She charmed, "We have to be sure."

Leo rolled his eyes and reluctantly stretched out his hand, "You know, it concerns me how willing you've always been to inflict physical pain on the people you're supposed to love."

"What's that thing us whitelighters are supposed to be so concerned about? The Greater Good?"

She slid the knife across his palm without giving him a chance to respond, and he winced as blood immediately spilled from the wound and began to drip onto the floor. They watched the skin intently, waiting for it to bubble and renew itself, but after the seconds ticked by and turned to a minute, and that minute turned to two, it was obvious that it wasn't going to happen.

"It worked." Leo grinned euphorically, feeling the cumbersome weight he had been carrying lift from his shoulders. "You did it."

"I don't know." Paige frowned absently, "Maybe we should try again somewhere a little more vital; just to be sure."

"No!"

"What? I'll heal you afterward Leo, God. Overreact much?"

"Could you fix this please?" Leo gestured toward his palm, glancing nervously between the injury and the closed kitchen door. "If Piper comes in here, she's going to kill us both."

Paige rolled her eyes again, but she obligingly placed her hand above his, and erased all traces of their experiment. When she was finished, Leo immediately grabbed a sheet of paper towel and wiped up the mess that had fallen to the tiles.

"And your other powers? They're working?" Paige inquired thoroughly.

Leo didn't need to concentrate at all in order to be aware of the dim chatter in the back of his mind, and he briefly orbed out, and then back to his exact spot. "Everything seems to be in order." He answered.

Satisfied, Paige nodded her head. "Good." She picked up one of the dessert trays sitting atop the oven, and passed the other one to Leo. "Just don't piss Piper off before you get around to telling her; I had to clean up your bloody remains once already, and that was enough for me."

"What about the Elders?"

"What about them?" She said dismissively, "They never watch us unless they think we're doing something wrong. Even if they do peek; when they see you down here, older, they'll assume you're glamouring for Piper. And when you go Up There, you can glamour for Them to look younger and they'll never know the difference. Not until it's way too late to do anything about it, anyway. Why are we still talking about this?"

"Paige."

He stopped her before she could make her way through the swinging door, and she paused expectantly. He understood her way of using humour to keep situations from becoming more emotional than she could comfortably deal with. He understood that she only teased mercilessly those she loved fiercely. But he needed to say it anyway.

"Thank you."

Paige smiled and graced him with a rare instance of completely sincere affection. "I love you."

"I know."

Then she bumped the door open with her hip, and he followed her back out to rejoin the party.

* * *

"Would you stop hitting my child?"

That was the first complete sentence – Piper's – rising above the rest of the chatter, that Leo and Paige heard upon their return. They both grinned reflexively before they even had time to enter the room and see first hand the new antics that had begun in their absence.

Wyatt and Henry were sitting cross legged on the couch facing one another, intently studying their hands between them. Wyatt's tiny palms rested atop Henry's larger ones, and every few seconds Henry would quickly move them from beneath Wyatt and tap the boy lightly on the back of the hand. Each time, Wyatt would try to pull his hands away before Henry could hit them, and each time, he was just a moment too slow.

"Seriously Henry, knock it off."

"Mom I almost had him that time!" Wyatt protested.

"You have no idea what you're starting." Phoebe commented with a shake of her head.

"You would know, wouldn't you Phoebe?" Piper sniped.

"What does she mean by that?" Coop asked with a laugh.

Piper and Phoebe stared each other down before breaking into laughter simultaneously.

"Let's just say, Phoebe was a little too overzealous with that game when we were kids." She answered, rolling her eyes resignedly. Then with a pointed glare in her younger sister's direction, Piper pulled up her long sleeved shirt and pointed to a small, strawberry coloured scar near her elbow. "You see this?"

"Oh grow up Piper." Phoebe called exasperatedly.

"This," she continued self importantly, "is from when Phoebe threw a temper tantrum because I was winning at that ridiculous "game," and she whipped a pair of scissors at me."

"Phoebe." Paige reprimanded, her eyes wide in entertained shock as she dropped the dessert tray carelessly on the coffee table before retaking her seat beside Wyatt.

"They were safety scissors!"

"Obviously not safe enough." Piper snorted.

Leo, who had heard this story more times than he cared to recall over the years, simply rolled his eyes as he went about rearranging the food and drinks littering the table to prevent anything from falling to the floor.

When he went to reclaim his seat, however, he found Laura had snuck by him, and was now comfortably nestled in his wife's lap. As he watched the two of them, he heard Henry and Wyatt resume their game while Chris gave Phoebe, Paige and Coop an animated recount of Stephen Tucker; the little boy who crawled into the recycling bin at his preschool and then somehow managed to get stuck.

"Excuse me your highness." Leo began in a mock stern voice, "You're in my seat."

"My seat." Laura responded confidently.

"I guess I'm going to have to move you then." He sighed dramatically.

"No!" Laura laughed and gripped her aunt desperately; unfortunately for Piper, her free falling waves of hair were too easy a target for her young niece. She winced when the near two-year-old grabbed a fistful and pulled unintentionally.

"Thanks, Leo."

"Sorry honey."

He leaned in to offer his assistance and gently uncurled Laura's fist before scooping up her giggling, writhing form. "Stop making trouble for me, Laura."

Piper smiled as she watched her husband twirl the little girl about, and even though she tried not to, even though she willed herself to keep guarded while Phoebe was near, her thoughts turned to the baby inside her, too small for even her to be overly aware of save for her overwhelming desire to break down and cry from the all encompassing happiness filling her at this exact moment. Whether it was, in actuality, a hormonal impulse or not, she was choosing to blame it on the pregnancy.

Phoebe looked up just then; clearly something had stolen her attention away from the never ending story Chris was mapping out for her. When she turned her head and made unwavering eye contact with her sister, Piper cursed inwardly. Phoebe knew. Even if Phoebe didn't know just yet, Phoebe would figure it out in a matter of seconds. There was really only one thing that could inspire the internal, grounded, peaceful contentment consuming her right now, and Phoebe had witnessed it twice before.

If her sister had any sense of self-preservation, she would keep it to herself.

The message was written clearly across Piper's face, and Phoebe, the good little empath she was, received it loud and clear. She refocused her attention back on her nephew, but not before she returned Piper's intimidating stare with one of her own that told the eldest Halliwell that they would most definitely be talking about this later. Well that was fine with Piper; as long as her loudmouth sister understood that they weren't going to talk about it _now_. Poor Leo, he was going to be so disappointed when she told him about this.

She sat a little straighter in her chair when a familiar twinge of melancholy suddenly came over her. A familiar pang in her heart she hadn't felt since before she lost Leo. She hadn't even realized it had been so long since it last happened until this very minute. The voices in the room became muffled as she felt herself being gradually forced out of its reality. There was Leo, sitting on the floor in front of Phoebe and Coop, sharing a pastry with his bedazzled niece. There was Chris, practically throwing himself off the couch with the momentum of his wild, vigorous hand gestures as his story continued on. Paige and Phoebe, exchanging amused glances over their nephew's head as they wondered if the story was ever going to end. Wyatt, grinning triumphantly as Henry finally missed his hands.

With the distanced sadness, she took a deep breath, bracing herself against the paralysing attack of fear and panic that always closely accompanied it; but for once, it wasn't threatening to overtake her. It was there, to be sure: undoubtedly. But she could still breathe. She could still think. She wasn't fighting tears due to the horrible solitude of it all. Carefully, cautiously, she pushed against it, and the minor ache that was nothing compared to what she was used to, what she _expected_, slowly faded away. She focused on her husband, and she held onto his face, and she allowed his bright smile to fill her with happiness over what she had now, and she fought her body's inclination to be consumed by panic at everything she could potentially lose.

"How are you doing?" Leo asked, as she leaned forward and reached for the glass of iced tea she had left sitting on the table before her.

"I'm fine." She smiled.

And for once, Piper Halliwell meant it wholeheartedly.

**Fin**

* * *

_I figured it would be appropriate for me to end the story the same way it began; (almost) completely free of angst and insecurity. I hope you all enjoyed it; thoughts are welcome as always. Your reviews never failed to make me smile, or think, and I still can't believe how many there were... I'm pretty sure it's more than ten times the number of reviews I've ever got for anything, lol. Kind of mind blowing. Anyway, thank you. You've been amazing. I doubt I'll ever take on another story of this size, but it DID help a rather painful semester pass by much quicker than it would have otherwise, and I learned a few things about myself. Thanks again for your patience and kindness, and I hope you all have a fantastic holiday!!_


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